U.S. DoT Designates Northeastern University and Rutgers University as “Beyond Traffic” Centers

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that Northeastern University and Rutgers University have been selected as two of 18 institutions across the country to lead research on the major transportation challenges that our nation will face over the next three decades.

Northeastern University and Rutgers University were designated as Beyond Traffic Innovation Center and were announced on the same day that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released the final report, Beyond Traffic 2045. The report is the culmination of a two-year analysis of the transportation challenges presented by trends including population growth, increased freight shipping, and the movement of people into concentrated megaregions.

“In the next 30 years, our country will have 70 million more people competing for the use of our roads, transit and rail networks, and airports, and we are going to have to make some big choices about how we fund and prioritize transportation,” said Secretary Foxx. “The Beyond Traffic Innovation Centers will bring together researchers, students, and thought leaders to develop the ideas we need to keep Americans moving and build a transportation system that works for everyone.”

Beyond Traffic Innovation Centers are non-profit institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations which will promote study and thought leadership around the challenges raised in the Beyond Traffic report. Centers will convene leaders and other key decision-makers in each of the megaregions around the United States, as well as in rural communities, to discuss these challenges and coordinate related research, curriculum, outreach, and other activities.

As part of the research for the Beyond Traffic 2045 report, USDOT officials held a public forum with local leaders and stakeholders in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2015 to understand the major issues that were facing people across the Northeastern megaregion. The report released today notes that the major cities of Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and their respective metropolitan areas are home to the majority of the megaregion's estimated 52 million residents.

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