March 2006
Rural Transportation Summit
On March 22nd this year, North Country Independent Living hosted a Rural
Transportation Summit in Hayward with assistance from CILWW and its staff and
the American Cancer Society. The summit focused on the counties of Burnett,
Washburn, Sawyer, and Barron, with the emphasis on fostering coordination of
transportation services and resources in this four county area. The summit was
attended by State and County personnel from various agencies, transportation
providers, transportation consumers, five different Native American Tribes, and
many other persons interested in rural transportation issues.
The keynote speaker for the event was Dan Dalton from Easter Seals Project
Action, an agency based out of Washington DC that works on transportation issues
for the elderly and persons with disabilities. There was also a presentation by
Don Chatfield from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, a round table
discussion with area transportation providers, and CB Ton & Associates presented
the results of the transportation needs assessments they had conducted in these
four counties, which had been funded through CILWW.
The final activity of the day was for participants to break into small groups
and address what are the current transportation barriers that exist and then
develop ideas for overcoming these barriers. This was a great activity that
provided an opportunity for brainstorming with fellow participants and an
opportunity to "think outside the box" when it comes to providing transportation
to the elderly and persons with disabilities living in the most rural parts of
Wisconsin.
Overall the Rural Transportation Summit was a great success and hopefully
persons came away with a sense that there are ways to overcome the
transportation barrier faced by the elderly and persons with disabilities and
being open to finding ways to provide for coordination of transportation
services amongst neighboring counties. For the past five years CILWW has been a
driving force in addressing the transportation needs of all transit dependent
persons living in rural areas of Wisconsin. This was just another step towards
our ultimate goal of creating a coordinated and responsive transportation system
to meet that need.
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