In the comments on our earlier thread on possible Obama picks for Secretary of Transportation, someone put forward Jack Opiola as someone who could perhaps be asked to join the Obama administration for the post. We did find a few mentions of this possibility online, so here’s a short biography:
Jack Opiola. Image courtesy tollroadnews.info
Jack Opiola is a principal with Booz Allen Hamilton, the huge government contractor and consulting firm based in McLean, Virginia. The firm conducts transportation consulting as one of its services. The work that Opiola has participated in seems to focus exclusively on toll roads and congestion pricing. Here are a few stories where he is mentioned:
Jack Opiola disagrees on the future of toll technology
Regional tolling coming to Puget Sound
Keynote Speaker – Jack Opiola, at the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand 2003 Conference
Obama Transition Team Contemplates Congestion Charging
I honestly can’t see Opiola being a real choice for Secretary of Transportation, if only because the projects he has worked on are so controversial. Seems highly unlikely.
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on Nov 18th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Yuck. While I think the idea of congestion pricing is a good one, I’m pretty much against toll roads as they are currently run. The tolling authority is usually set up as a quasi-governmental organization with little oversight and lots of cash. Not a good combo.
I hope we start looking increasing the gas tax first. I think that addresses many more problems throughout our economy than just traffic and has the added bonus of reducing car use.
on Nov 28th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
London saw bicycle ridership go up by 80% as soon as they implemented congestion pricing … so agreed it’s a good idea … and that’s a lot bigger increase than any gas tax ever gave them.