Held at the University of Maryland Conference Center in May of 1998, Thinking Beyond the Pavement provided a landmark opportunity for 325 invited participants from 39 states and the District of Columbia to develop a vision of excellence in highway design for the 21st Century. Participants included chief engineers, senior designers and planners from 29 state departments of transportation, representatives of national transportation organizations, and a variety of stakeholders from government, the private sector, and citizens’ organizations.
The workshop was developed under the leadership of the Maryland State Highway Administration’s Administrator, Parker F. Williams; Tony Kane, Executive Director, Federal Highway Administration; and Francis B. Francois, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). They formed an advisory committee of some 40 organizations to help define the direction and content of the conference, including professional associations, local and state government, regulatory agencies, and safety, environmental, scenic, historic preservation, and bicycle groups.
