Series Finale: Commemorating the Second Anniversary of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)
About the Series Finale
The U.S. DOT Project Delivery Center of Excellence’s finale event will commemorate the second anniversary of the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Since President Biden signed the BIL on November 15, 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration has been working to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure—and is already delivering major progress. Tens of thousands of projects have been funded in thousands of communities in all 50 states, DC, and territories.
The finale event will spotlight transportation infrastructure projects that are currently being delivered with funding from the BIL, as well as highlight best practices in project delivery and project benefits.
Series Finale Details
A Message from the Deputy Secretary of Transportation
Polly Trottenberg
Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
Speakers
Wes Moore
Governor, Maryland
Christopher Puchalsky, Ph.D.
Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, City of Philadelphia, Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability
Thomas Nissalke, Ph.D.
Assistant General Manager of Planning and Development, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
News and Video
Read the recap and watch the recording for this event.
About the Speakers
Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland. He is Maryland’s first Black Governor in the state’s 246-year history and just the third African American elected Governor in the history of the United States.
Moore also served as CEO of Robin Hood foundation for four years. During his tenure, the Robin Hood foundation distributed over $600 million toward lifting families out of poverty.
Previously, Moore built and launched a Baltimore-based business called BridgeEdU, which reinvented freshman year of college for underserved students to increase their likelihood of long-term success. BridgeEdu was acquired by the Brooklyn-based student financial success platform, Edquity, in 2018.
Moore is also the author of several best-selling books including The Other Wes Moore, a story about the fragile nature of opportunity in America, and his latest book Five Days, which reflects on issues of race, equity, and opportunity.
Moore served as a White House Fellow, advising on issues of national security and international relations. Moore earned his bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He was the first Black Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University. As a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a master’s degree in international relations from Wolfson College at Oxford.
Christopher Puchalsky, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized transportation expert with a passion for livable cities. He has bachelor‘s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University, as well as a Ph.D. in Urban Transportation Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Puchalsky is currently the Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives at the City of Philadelphia's Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS). His past professional experience includes designing engines for the Ford Motor Company, working as a transportation consultant both in the United States and abroad, teaching and advising as an adjunct at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Waterloo, and serving the greater Philadelphia region as Director of Transportation Planning at Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.
Puchalsky has sat on advisory panels for the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Transit Cooperative Research Program, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program. He has produced numerous conference presentations and papers.
Thomas Nissalke, Ph.D., is the assistant general manager of planning and development. He oversees the planning, design, and construction of ATLNext, the Airport’s 20-year, multibillion-dollar capital improvement program.
In addition to managing ATLNext’s implementation, Nissalke is responsible for all Airport planning and the ATL’s environmental compliance programs, environmental planning and federal grants, and regulations compliance.
With more than two decades at Hartsfield-Jackson, Nissalke previously served as the director of planning and environmental for the Department of Aviation, in which he led the completion of the Airport’s master plan in 2015. He began his career at ATL in 1995, performing airfield and airspace computer modeling.
Nissalke completed his undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 1989 from the University of Utah. After moving to Atlanta, he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned his Master of Science degree in civil engineering in 1991 and doctorate in civil engineering in 1994.
*The views of the speakers may not represent the views of U.S. DOT.