Washington, D.C. –In his first meeting as Chairman of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB), Bowie Council Member Todd Turner said he would work with his colleagues to draw increased attention to funding the region’s transportation needs.  Turner, who was elected Chairman in December after serving two years as Vice Chair of the regional planning board, said the TPB would also highlight projects in local jurisdictions, advance a regional transportation priorities plan, develop a regional “Complete Streets” policy, and continue working to secure federal grants like the $58.8 million the region won in 2010 to improve bus transit. 

Turner was first elected to the City of Bowie Council in 2005.  Loudoun County Chairman Scott York and District of Columbia Councilmember Tommy Wells will serve alongside Turner as the TPB’s 2012 Vice Chairs.  York was first elected as Chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 1999 after serving one term on the Board as the Sterling District Representative.  Wells joined the D.C. Council as the Ward 6 representative in 2006. 

The TPB serves as the region’s federally designated metropolitan planning organization and as its forum for transportation planning. The TPB prepares plans and programs that must receive approval by the federal government in order for the region to receive federal transportation funds.  The TPB is staffed by the Department of Transportation Planning of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.