The Future of Roads Event

I was honored to be invited to participate in and speak at The Heritage Group 's first Future of Roads event held on February 27, 2024. HG Ventures hosted this invitation-only event with about 150 people from across the transportation infrastructure and innovation spectrum. Presenters and panelists included entrepreneurs solving key issues in the mobility and construction materials space, as well as agency officials from US DOT and State DOTs, national trade associations, like American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) , National Asphalt Pavement Association , and IBTTA , and the head of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ahead of this event, HG Ventures released a report, The Future of Roads: The Role of Technology in Securing Vital Infrastructure.

Here are my highlights and key takeaways:

• Innovation is necessary to solve transportation infrastructure challenges. Thus, HG Ventures led by John Glushik, with support from Heritage Construction + Materials (HC+M) (a NAPA member) led by Geoff Dillon, is investing in start-ups and small businesses that are tackling these issues.

• Allison Premo Black, Senior VP and Chief Economist at ARTBA, reported that freight shipments worth $14 trillion move across the United States and 74% of it moves via trucks (i.e., highways and roads), making our National Highway System critical to our economy and way of life.

• The US DOT has a new agency, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Infrastructure (ARPA-i) that aims to "right" the underinvestment in infrastructure research.

• According to TX DOT Deputy Director Brandye Hendrickson, the agency is developing Artificial Intelligence?strategy to address traffic management and optimization, accident prevention and safety enhancement, and emergency response.
• Safety was a common theme and thought leaders are hopeful that increases in connectivity and automation will lead to safer work environments and roadways. Technology is a must to overcome distracted driving as drivers cannot be depended on to "put down their phone."
• I was asked to discuss NAPA's The Road Forward (HC+M is a partner) and I highlighted the asphalt pavement industry's leadership in recycling asphalt pavements at a rate of 99% and how this directly contributes to lowering emissions. I also provided an overview of our goals and mentioned that the next highway funding bill will be prepared by many Congressional representatives who may have never worked on a highway bill before.

• My one ask of the audience was to reach out to their legislators and educate them on our industry. This is as simple as attending an industry fly-in or Hill Days event.

• Speaking of funding, we heard from William T. Nolan of the Federal Infrastructure Bank on their efforts for establishing a trillion-dollar Federal Infrastructure (roads) Bank to invest in US infrastructure. The bank would be modeled after the Federal Home Loan Bank, established 91 years ago, and would be federally chartered, but privately owned and operated. Legislation has been introduced.
• We also heard from Doug Boles of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , arguably the most famous racetrack, who said that their greatest asset is their asphalt track, which has lasted through 21 seasons. THG engineers and scientists help maintain the speedway and improve their track to precise quality and excellence.
• 联邦快递 has goals for carbon neutral operations by 2040. Mitch Jackson, FedEx Chief Sustainability Officer, told us they’ve already invested $500 million to this goal. I thought it was interesting that FedEx's initiatives include shifting modes from air to ground to get an order of magnitude of emissions reduction, meaning more demand on our roadways.
• Finally, HG Ventures is looking for future partners in transportation infrastructure and THG leadership was very interested in feedback on continuing the momentum and conversations because of this event.