AASHTO Journal - AASHTO Taps New Faces for TPF, Freight Committee

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has appointed new leaders to its Transportation Policy Forum or TPF and its Special Committee on Freight.

[Above photos via Nevada DOT & TxDOT]

Sondra Rosenberg, newly promoted to deputy director of planning and administration for the Nevada Department of Transportation, will serve a two-year term as vice chair of AASHTO’s TPF.

The TPF discusses and recommends policies related to legislation, regulation, and other matters to AASHTO’s board of directors – including recommended positions on reauthorization of key transportation legislation and on ongoing topical issues of interest to AASHTO members. Those policies may include modal, multimodal, multi-disciplinary, and emerging issues that have originated from the councils and committees or have been assigned to the forum by AASHTO’s board or its Strategic Management Committee.

Rosenberg started at Nevada DOT in 2008 as a transportation planner/analyst. In 2014, she was promoted to assistant director of planning and served in that role until becoming deputy director. In this new role, she oversees five NDOT groups focused on planning and performance, including administration, planning, human resources, communications, internal audit, and external civil rights.

Rosenberg received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Rochester and a Master of Science degree in Transportation Technology and Policy from the University of California, Davis. Before coming to NDOT, she worked as a consultant for several years and then as a transportation scholar via the National Park Foundation.

Concurrently, AASHTO named Caroline Mays – director of planning and modal programs for the Texas Department of Transportation – as chair of its Special Committee on Freight.

That committee – where Mays previously served as vice chair – takes a “forward-looking view” of freight issues and operates as a forum to exchange information regarding freight transportation issues of national concern.

Of special concern to this committee is the relationship between the movement of goods and the natural and built environments, social equity, public health, and the economy; the role of the private and public sector; the interconnectivity and resiliency of freight and passenger transportation modes and systems; and interface requirements between airports, highways, ports, railroads, transit systems, and waterways important for freight movement.

At TxDOT, Mays is responsible for the management and control of the agency’s aviation, maritime, public transportation, rail, and transportation planning and programming divisions.

A recognized regional, state, and national leader experienced in multimodal transportation planning and programming, policy, and project development, Mays is responsible for TxDOT’s statewide multimodal freight, international trade, and statewide corridor planning programs and was instrumental in establishing the multimodal freight planning program, developing the first multimodal Freight Mobility Plan, and the Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Master Plan.

Prior to joining TxDOT, Mays worked for the Atlanta Regional Commission Metropolitan Planning Organization, where she created the freight planning program, managed the development of the Atlanta Regional Freight Mobility Plan, and oversaw the area’s Intelligent Transportation System planning program. She also worked as a transit planner for Rockland County, New York.