Transforming transportation: mobility 21: working toward transportation solutions for Southern California.

Next time you're stuck in traffic, consider this: our state's transportation infrastructure was built for a capacity of 25 million people. We're now at 37 million, and in just 10 years California is expected to grow to 42 million. As the Southern California region continues to experience tremendous growth in the years ahead, every mode of our transportation system will be challenged to accommodate increased demand. How are we going to transform our overburdened system of moving goods and people into one that really works? That's the mission of Mobility 21.

The Mobility 21 Coalition is a countywide nonpartisan organization of transportation stakeholders and their representatives, created in 2002 by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority with strategic partner The Automobile Club of Southern California to bring focus to regional transportation solutions. Comprising leaders from all parts of the community--business, labor, transportation providers, local government, community groups, environmentalists, transit advocates and shipping--the Mobility 21 Coalition ensures that all interests are heard as plans are developed for the future of transportation in the region. The coalition educates and advocates for regional transportation priorities at the federal, state and local levels.

Effective transportation systems are critical for residents, business and the economy. Workers need to spend less time in traffic, and more time being productive at work and at home with their families. Businesses need goods to move quickly across the region. Forty-three percent of the nation's imports enter the country through our ports, and then travel through our region's roads and rails into the rest of the nation. When goods are gridlocked in L.A., it sends ripple effects throughout the nation's economy.

Transportation solutions in Southern California will require collaboration. Government, business and communities must all be engaged in the discussion over solutions to ensure that transportation facilities are improved and expanded to meet the needs of the region and the nation. Without a collective strategy to solve this crisis and the funding to implement it, Southern California drivers and passengers will not only experience absolute gridlock, but the national economy will also be severely restricted because goods movement will be strangled.

The Mobility 21 Coalition has been instrumental in making progress toward improving the Southern California transportation landscape.

Members have made their voices heard in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., advocating for more investment in transportation for Los Angeles. Through organized annual trips to the state and national capitals, the coalition was able to restore $1.3 billion in Proposition 42 transportation dollars into the 2005 state budget. Another victory credited to the advocacy of the coalition members has been the reauthorization of TEA-21 (SAFETEA-LU) federal transportation funding, resulting in more than $237 million for Los Angeles County's high-priority projects to improve our freeways and transportation corridors.

The coalition has been also been successful in unifying L.A. transportation advocates and elected officials around common goals. In 2004, a key success was the securing of $500 million for the Metro Gold Line rail extension to East L.A. in conjunction with a bi-partisan coalition of representatives in Congress, led by Rep. David Dreier and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard. The Mobility 21 Coalition has been effective in pushing for projects to improve the mobility of people and to expedite the movement of goods throughout the Los Angeles region.

Through ongoing education and advocacy events and programs, Mobility 21 will continue to work toward transportation solutions in Southern California. This week's Fourth Annual Mobility 21 Summit, held at the Long Beach Convention Center, brings together national, state and regional leaders to discuss the intersection of transportation with the economy, homeland security and quality of life for the region's residents. By engaging transportation leaders, this year's summit will play a critical role in advancing the transportation discussion and moving the Mobility 21 agenda forward in the region, the state and the country.

The Coalition recognizes, as it has from the beginning, that organizing Los Angeles County interests is just the first step in addressing our transportation crisis. It is planning to expand its efforts in the coming months to focus on regional transportation priorities throughout the five-county area by reaching out to business and community organizations. In addition, the Coalition will be focusing on developing permanent funding sources that will allow it to have dedicated staff resources and funds to increase and enhance its activities.

Each and every resident and business in Southern California relies on our transportation system. Membership in Mobility 21 is free and open to the public. For information on how to join Mobility 21 and help transform transportation in Southern California, visit www.mobility21.com.