U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta To Launch National Transportation Week At Ceremony Marking Completion of I-15 in Utah
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta will join transportation workers throughout the country during National Transportation Week May 13-19 as they celebrate America's achievements in transportation and plan for projects in the 21st century that will improve the quality of life in the United States.
"We are fortunate in this country to have a transportation system that fosters economic growth, quality of life and virtually unlimited access to goods, services and destinations," Secretary Mineta said. "This came about through decades of planning and hard work by transportation workers of all types, and now is an opportunity to celebrate what we've accomplished."
Secretary Mineta noted that National Transportation week is also a time to reflect on the challenges ahead and work together with partners across all modes of transportation to look at the future.
Secretary Mineta will launch National Transportation Week during remarks at a 12:15 p.m. ceremony in Salt Lake City celebrating the completion of the I-15 project in Utah that included reconstruction of a 17-mile corridor from downtown Salt Lake City to Sandy, Utah.
Other events, including several in Washington, D.C., will take place involving some 40 National Transportation Week partners. Among them are the following:
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On May 14, Mitre Corporation will host 10 teachers from Suitland High School, Prince George's County, Md., to introduce them to careers in transportation, discuss opportunities for teachers to job-shadow Mitre employees, and for students to work as interns. The teachers are a part of a team that is establishing Suitland's School of Transportation by September 2002. The School of Transportation will be designed as a small learning community to help improve students' academic achievement, attendance, and successful transition to post-secondary education or the world of work.
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On May 16, the Federal Aviation Administration will play host to an estimated 800-1,000 elementary and high school students at Potomac Field in Prince George's County, Md., where there will be an aircraft building contest and other competitions, plus exhibits, demonstrations and displays that will include more than 22 aircraft. At 9:45 a.m., Quixote Transportation Safety will award a $200 United States Savings Bond to the student-winner of a National Transportation Week poster contest and a $500 check to the student's school.
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Secretary Mineta on May 17 will join employees of the U.S. Department of Transportation and others as they rally for National Transportation Week in plaza of the Nassif Building at 400 Seventh St., S.W., in Washington, D.C., and participate in the department's annual volunteer committee fundraiser. Vendors selling art, books, food and other wares will add to the festive nature of the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. event.
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Bill Gilbert, author of Ship of Miracles, will share highlights of his book and how he came to write it during a book-signing session sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration at 2 p.m. May 17 in the Federal Aviation Administration Auditorium, 800 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. The book details what has been called "The greatest rescue operation by a single ship in the history of mankind," when in December 1950 Captain Leonard La Rue and the crew of the SS Meredith Victory rescued 14,000 North Korean refugees fleeing from rapidly approaching Chinese and Korean forces in a small merchant ship -- a ship designed to carry just 12 passengers. The public may attend.
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At 10 a.m. May 17 in Room 4200 of the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters, Joe Toole, director the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Professional Development, will describe the results of a recently completed transportation workforce development study tour of Sweden, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The study tour is one of a number of initiatives underway to address concerns that as much as 50 percent of the U.S. transportation workforce will be at retirement age or eligible to retire in the next five years. The international study tour identified innovative practices for recruiting, planning, retaining and developing transportation professionals that may be useful in the United States.
For more information, visit the Web site at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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