America's Byways® Press Room
April 14, 2000 - Secretary Slater Transportation Tour Promotes Vision

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary ~ Office of Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20590
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DOT 77-00
Friday, April 14, 2000 Contact: Kara Gerhardt Tel.: (202) 366-5565

Secretary Slater’s Transportation Tour Highlights Safe, Sustainable and Integrated 21st Century Transportation System

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater today began a two-week, multi-modal tour across America to promote the Clinton-Gore administration’s vision of a transportation system that enhances safety and mobility while meeting the needs of all Americans.

In Laredo, Texas, Slater kicked off the tour at the southern border of the U.S. and Mexico and will conclude the tour on the northern border of the U.S. and Canada in Buffalo, N.Y. As the keynote speaker for the dedication of the $128 million World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Secretary Slater announced the tour is about the future of transportation and its importance in the new century and the new millennium as it relates to safety, mobility, the human and natural environment, economic development and trade, and national security.

Secretary Slater also will tour strategic transportation facilities and meet with congressional leaders, governors, mayors, other elected officials, management and labor leaders within the ransportation industry, community leaders, and safety advocates. Other cities along the tour include Akron, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Elmira and New York City, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; Detroit, Mich.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Charleston, W. Va.; Louisville, Ky.; Little Rock, Ark.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; New Orleans, La.; Dallas, Texas; and Memphis, Tenn. Secretary Slater will join President Clinton during the President’s Digital Divide New Markets tour in Chicago and for the dedication of the Oklahoma City Memorial in honor of those who died in the tragedy at Oklahoma City in 1995.

Particular focus will be given to the need for an integrated transportation system in the future that moves people, goods, information and services safely and efficiently while growing local economies to help create jobs and more livable communities.

“This tour reinforces the Clinton-Gore administration’s recognition of transportation as a strategic investment, along with education, health care, technology and the environment, essential to strengthening America for the new challenges and the limitless opportunities of a new century and a new millennium,” Secretary Slater said.

Secretary Slater’s tour will also feature seven key 2025 Visioning Sessions where the Secretary and other key transportation leaders will participate in listening sessions with an array of academics and leaders in business, labor, community and local, state, federal and international affairs to discuss the future of the transportation enterprise in the following areas:

  • Akron: New-Entrant Carriers and Competition
  • Detroit: The Automotive Capital of the World
  • Memphis: The Distribution Center of the World
  • Little Rock: Safety: The Number One Transportation Priority-Our North Star
  • New Orleans: A Gateway to the Americas
  • Buffalo: A Transportation Hub of the 21st Century
  • Dallas: Livability: Communities That Are Not Just Better Off, But Better

These 2025 Visioning Sessions are designed to aid the ever visionary and vigilant professionals at the U.S. Department of Transportation and other public and private sector leaders in formulating a new vision of transportation and in crafting a new policy architecture for transportation decision-making to bring such a system into being. The 2025 Visioning sessions also will aid the U.S. Department of Transportation as it prepares to host an International Transportation Symposium in Washington, D.C., this fall to highlight best practices and innovate ideas around the world.

During his tour, Secretary Slater will promote railroad safety and the use of safety belts, discuss the benefits of new entry and low cost carriers in the airline industry, promote expanded maritime and surface transportation services, and visit National Millennium Trail sites as well as a variety of transportation projects.

Secretary Slater has conducted transportation tours every April since 1994 to examine first-hand how the Clinton administration’s record level of investment in transportation is improving the quality of peoples’ lives across the length and breadth of America, as well as improving travel and trade internationally.

Visit the DOT Public Affairs Web Site at: http://www.dot.gov/briefing.htm.

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