MARC News

Transportation conference draws planners and agencies from across the Midwest

New transit stop with local children’s artwork in historic Westside neighborhood in Kansas City, Mo.

April 10, 2006

MARC hosted the Midwest Transportation Planning Conference April 4–7, 2006, in Kansas City, Mo, drawing 190 planners and agency representatives from 13 states and Washington, D.C.

The conference brings together transportation planning professionals from across the Midwest to examine important transportation issues from a Midwest perspective. Topics examined this year included SAFETEA-LU, the newest federal transportation bill signed into law in 2005; forces at work in Midwestern regions; and the latest trends in transportation planning practice.

The conference also offered mobile workshops for attendees to highlight significant transportation-related activities and projects in the Kansas City region. Workshops included touring the Kansas City Scout traffic management system, Bruce R. Watkins Memorial Drive, downtown/MAX bus rapid transit, Riverfront Heritage Trail, First Suburbs and J.C. Nichols development in Prairie Village, and Wyandotte County development.

This was the seventh Midwest Transportation Planning Conference in 10 years. MARC was the first host of the conference in 1996. At that time, the nation was reauthorizing the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act federal transportation bill, and the Midwest wanted to develop a position on the bill. Since 1996, the conference has rotated to Omaha, Des Moines, Quad Cities, St. Louis and Indianapolis.

Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County

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