On May 26, 2017, the Dept. of Public Policy & Administration (PPAD), JSU, hosted Mississippi Department of Transportation's (MDOT) TRANS-CON Community Working Session: "A Call To Action-The Validity of Transportation Now." at Jackson State University's Downtown Campus located at 101 W. Capitol, Jackson, MS.
The TRANS-CON (Central Mississippi Transportation Connection) is one of the six regional coordination transportation groups in the State of Mississippi. TRANS-CON's mission is to provide safe, reliable, available, affordable and accessible transporation services for Copiah, Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Simpson, Warren, and Yazoo Counties in Central Mississippi through the development and implementation of regional and statewide transportation services coordination.
MDOT and the Department of Public Policy & Administration have a long working relationship to bring more effective and efficient transporation to the State of Mississippi. According to Dr. Johnny Gilleylen, "the relationship between the two agencies goes back to the 1985 establishment of the Federal Transporation Administration's " T2 Transporation Center" at Jackson State University. The relationship has involved administration, research, and training provided through the department. This workshop is a continuation of a very long and durable relationship." MDOT's Intermodal Transportation Director, Mr. Charles Carr, stated that "its time to move beyond planning to implementation." The conference was led by the Executive Director of NROUTE, Ms. Evelyn Bumpers, who also serves as the coordination group's director.
The intendees included representatives from state, county, and local governments, private foundations, and private companies. The goal for the session was not only to design policies and strategies to improve public transit, but also to create mechanisms of implementation under the concept of collaboration between public transit stakeholders. The discussion not only included methods of effective coordination, but also adoption of new technologies, and how agencies may secure more funding. One of the conference outcomes was to increase utilization of Jackson State University and PPAD as partners in this mission. Several agencies are in the process to establish more formal relationships with PPAD by entering into memoranda of understanding to utilize and fund department interns. They have begun to write PPAD interns into their FTA grant applications.
TRANS-CON's Regional Mobility Manager Machelle Kyles personally thanked Dr. Ricardo Brown, Dean of the College of Public Service for being a valued TRANS-CON regional group partner and seeking to expand their relationship with the university.
