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Welcome back to the Loop, where we had a lot to celebrate as spring turned into summer, and rain turned into sunshine.
Take a vacation from your typical emails and get in the Loop about everything happening at DRPT from Bike Month to Virginia Public Service Week and each swearing in and speech given in between.
DRPT Celebrates Bike Month
DRPT’s Bike Month celebrations went wheel-y well, with Director Mariia Zimmerman attending the City of Richmond’s official launch and DRPT staff exploring the Capitol Trail system on Trail Thursday. This year, the agency also spearheaded the inaugural Bike Month Challenge, with people across the state logging bike rides in ConnectingVA to help their cities come out on top. This initiative highlighted that biking can be a rewarding way to get to work by reducing traffic, improving health and environmental outcomes, and fostering community… but to help, we do provide actual rewards through our ConnectingVA platform too.
Suffolk Ribbon Cutting
DRPT Senior Statewide Program Manager Avery Daugherty had the privilege of attending the ribbon-cutting for Suffolk Transit’s two new routes he was excited to sea and is absolutely nuts about: the Peanut Express and the Seaport Express. The two routes, funded by the SMART SCALE program, will connect Suffolk to Portsmouth and Windsor respectively to help strengthen links between these important coastal communities.
National Community Transportation Roadeo
Hold your horses, Avery! After attending two roadeos in April, Avery Daugherty was about to hang up his cowboy boots for the season but changed his mind and attended the Community Transportation Association of America’s bus roadeo in Omaha. This national bus event allowed experts from across the country to share their knowledge and show off their talent when it comes to managing fleets and personnel.
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Virginia Public Service Week
While DRPT cherishes getting to celebrate the accomplishments of our grantees and partners, in early May we took a moment to show gratitude for one another during Virginia Public Service Week. We had a weeks’ worth of events with the theme “Out of this World” and it went pretty stellar.
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Swearing In Ceremonies
Although Director Mariia Zimmerman joined DRPT in January, the official business of being sworn in as a Commissioner on the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and as our Director took place during the spring. I swear, Director Zimmerman has not had a dull moment since starting, and these events draw into focus the many different roles DRPT’s Director plays across the state and on regional boards and commissions. Our offices may be in Richmond and Alexandria, but our team brings its presence to every corner of the Commonwealth.
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ITSVA Annual Conference
The Intelligent Transportation Society of Virginia (ITSVA) held their annual conference in Richmond, where Director Mariia Zimmerman provided keynote remarks, Deputy Director Allan Fye took part in a panel, and Director of Transit Planning Tiffany Dubinsky was confirmed as president of the organization. The society lives up to its’ name, with those three being quite intelligent choices to feature at their conference in our opinion, and is just one example of the many ways our agency aims to innovate and be on the cutting edge of advancements in the transportation industry.
VTA Conference
DRPT staff flocked to Fredericksburg for the Virginia Transit Association’s (VTA) Annual Conference, participating in a number of panels and engaging with key stakeholders from across the industry. Although we do meet our partners where they are from Arlington to Wytheville (we don’t have any towns beginning with X, Y, or Z apparently), our staff treasure opportunities to engage with peers at conferences like VTA’s to uplift our expertise and gain some from them.
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Brownfields Conference
Statewide Transit Planner Mitch Huber proudly represented DRPT at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Annual Brownfields Conference in Staunton, which focused on ways to use innovative planning techniques to repurpose former Brownfields sites. The grass is always browner at DEQ events, and taking part in events led by fellow state agencies helps give us a broader perspective on our work and its impacts.
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Fairwinds Landing Site Visit
Rail Capital Programs Manager Linda Balderson had the opportunity to give Commonwealth Transportation Board Members Frederick Stant and Wayne Coleman (who recently completed his term) a look behind the scenes of our work through a site visit to the new Rail Industrial Access project at Fairwinds Landing. This economic development initiative will bring hundreds of new jobs to Norfolk and reduce traffic congestion on highways, making it much easier for people to go from road rage to beach bliss over the summer.
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Tide Light Rail System Visit
Transit Rail Safety & Emergency Management Administrator Andrew Ennis brought Director Mariia Zimmerman down to Hampton Roads for a tour of Hampton Roads Transit's (HRT) Tide Light Rail System and to share more about DRPT’s work with state safety oversight. More adventures with the Tide Light Rail System will be coming in the next edition of the Loop, but hopefully this was enough to tide you all over for now.
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