Transportation is a tricky thing. It’s expected to be both public and personal; costly, yet cost effective; short-term and long-term; flexible yet predictable. All of this makes it a prime example of the need for long-term futures thinking and full-time dreaming.

In this episode, I talk with Mary Gates who, as a member of the Sound Transit board from 1990 to the early 2000’s, helped usher in a new era of public transportation to the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area.

As part of her tenure, her and the board, expanded the system to include buses, light rail, heavy rail and created plans for expansion throughout King County, Pierce County, and Snohomish County, including cities such as Tacoma, Everett, Bellevue, Issaquah and more.

We talk about the difficulties of not just creating the vision for and executing a regional transit plan but some of the issues she and others faced as women in transportation leadership. Links to some relevant topics discussed are below. *DISCLOSURE* I may receive compensation for some links below. Those links will have another disclosure statement next to them

This is the final episode of a 3 part series on civic futures.

Go here for the first episode of the Civic Futures series, a conversation with Bryan Boyer of Civic Futures firm, Dash Marshall.

Go here for the second episode in the Civic Futures series, a speculative design conversation with designer and futurist Chad Phillips.It is also the 10th and final episode of the first season of The Full-Time Dreamer Project Podcast. Thank you so much for taking the journey through to think about the future and dreaming purposefully via a podcast. If you haven’t listened to the rest of the episodes, they’re up at thefulltimedreamer.com/podcast for your listening pleasure.

Sign up for the email list to stay up events, future podcasts and other projects from The Full-Time Dreamer Project here.

Sound Transit Expansion Plan
Sound Transit Federal Way Extension
Crosscut Article – How Joni Earl Saved Light Rail
Back on Track: Sound Transit’s Fight to Save Light Rail (DISCLOSURE: I may receive compensation for purchases made through this link)
BergerABAM (now part of WSP)

MARTA Atlanta
MARTA Expansion Projects
Atlanta Journal Constitution Article on the history of MARTA’s expansion issues