AASHTO Journal reports on a Transportation Research Board annual meeting session focused on the importance of leadership and employment diversity within state departments of transportation. Dr. Shawn Wilson, Louisiana’s transportation secretary and AASHTO’s current president, reiterated the need to create a “sustainable structure” for equity in the transportation industry, one that establishes “quality in the workplace alongside putting leadership of DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] principles in place to address future infrastructure needs.” Participants in the roundtable session emphasized that achieving workforce diversity and inclusion is a necessary step in ensuring that US transportation agencies serve the entire community and avoid decisions that inequitably impact disadvantaged people, including minorities and the poor.
