Search title image

TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

December 2005 / January 2006

Sunne McPeak Tom Torlakson Will Kempton Photos: John Huseby, Caltrans

State Officials Embrace Intelligent Transportation

California is enthusiastically embracing intelligent solutions to the state’s mobility problems, according to several officials who participated in the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

“We want to be the home to people with big ideas and big dreams,” remarked Sunne McPeak (top photo), director of the State Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, adding that Governor Schwarzenegger’s Administration is intent on “putting the ‘go’ back in the Golden State.”

State Senator Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch, middle photo), who recently transitioned from chair of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee to chair of the Senate Select Committee on Bay Area Infrastructure, spoke at a pre-Congress press briefing and also hosted a special hearing during the week of the Congress. Noting that he is working with State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) on a statewide infrastructure bond measure for 2006, Torlakson said, “I believe ITS should be part of that — we should be investing in smarter ways of implementing our tax dollars in transportation.”

Also on hand was Caltrans Director Will Kempton (bottom photo). “The technology we’re talking about is in existence today,” he said. “Our charge should be to deploy, deploy, deploy.”

Contents