Successful transportation starts with purpose

In transportation, getting stakeholders to unite behind a common purpose is the most effective way of creating world-bettering success, says transportation and advanced mobility leader Amy Ford.

There’s certainly no shortage of good ideas in our business – especially technology innovations that can transform how we deliver transportation. From safety improvements such as cars that digitally see vulnerable road users, to highways that charge electric vehicles as they drive, to all the efforts going into reimagining mobility – hyperloop, autonomous vehicles and vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft to name just a few – we are thinking big.

But are we thinking smart? That’s the question I asked at a recent conference dedicated to Intelligent Transportation Systems, the ITS World Congress in Los Angeles, in remarks delivered during the opening ceremony.

Uniting behind a common cause

The problem with great ideas is that non-traditional solutions don’t always fit into traditional boxes. They run up against regulatory frameworks built for an earlier era, layers of guidance, and stakeholder resistance. Processes can get messy quickly, often with factors that inhibit the outcomes we all want and the world needs.

Good ideas alone aren’t enough, but given the enormity of the environmental and social challenges facing our societies, we need to strengthen our resolve to push them through. How do we do that?

In my view, the best way to unite the viewpoints and interests of different stakeholders is through a common vision. A goal which we can all get behind and strive towards. At AECOM, we do this by starting every project and program with a question.

Ask yourself, what purpose does this serve?

In our business, there are lots of technically brilliant people brimming with fantastic ideas. But if you ask them what they’re proudest of, usually it’s the impact they’ve made.

To make the biggest impact, direction must be set from the outset. That’s why at AECOM we begin every project and program by asking: both what is the purpose and need for what we are doing to deliver a better world?

This approach is consistent across our business. Here are just a few examples:

Bridges?

• Yes, we build them. Some of the longest spans in the world in fact.
• Recently we opened the Padma Bridge in Bangladesh, India. It’s ​the longest bridge over the Ganges River by both span and total length.
• Its purpose is to provide safer connectivity amongst the now linked communities, improving industry and trade, as well as providing resiliency against monsoons and seismic activity native to the area.

Tunnels?

• Yes, we engineer them, deep underground beneath cities and under bodies of water.
• In China, the Zhoutouzui Immersed Tunnel in is the largest river-crossing tunnel in Guangzhou under the Pearl River.
• Our design and delivery of the tunnel focused on relieving traffic congestion and commerce for the 10 million who call this area home.

Sustainable mobility options?

• Yes, we conceive and plan them, thinking and acting globally to move our expertise around the world.
• In Arizona, we’re helping provide statewide deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
• The reason? To provide reliable and equitable access to charging points, supporting the EV market and helping reduce carbon emissions on the roads.

How do you want to deliver a better world?

At AECOM, we’re on a mission to deliver a better world where infrastructure creates opportunity for everyone – uplifting communities, improving access and sustaining our planet.

A part of this, we’ve been asking our clients, partners, suppliers, the communities we serve – and even our competitors – how they could join us on this journey. Specifically, in transportation, we’ve been asking people how they want to deliver a better world. The answers, which we continue to collect, fall broadly into two camps:

• social, with equitable mobility solutions, safer transportation systems, and with community interests among some of the suggestions;
• environmental, with green technologies, smart intelligence and decarbonization at the top of people’s minds.

By taking our survey respondents are demonstrating an engagement with the world-bettering business. They offered lots of ideas about how to do this, but what unites them is the purpose: creating a better world.

See how we are delivering a better world today in transportation by checking out some of our insights, innovations and project solutions.