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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx Confirmed as 2014 NCIL Conference Keynote Speaker

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx

Join us at the 2014 NCIL Conference Keynote address as U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx shares his vision about how the U.S. transportation system, billed as the “safest, most efficient transportation system in the world” will continue to provide access to communities and serve people with disabilities around the nation.  Viewing transportation as a lifeline of opportunity for all people, Secretary Foxx advocates for the U.S. transportation system to become increasingly accessible to people with disabilities, including expanding transit access, improving pedestrian connectivity, rebuilding rail stations to ADA standards,  and enacting regulations to make air travel more accessible.

The former Charlotte, North Carolina mayor was confirmed by the Senate in July 2013. Secretary Foxx, in his time as mayor of Charlotte, made transportation central to the city’s job creation and economic recovery efforts.  Such investments included extending the LYNX light rail system, the largest capital project ever undertaken by the city, which will build new roads, bridges, transit as well as bicycle and pedestrian facilities; also expanding Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and collaborating with North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue to accelerate the I-485 outer belt loop using a creative design-build-finance approach; the first of its kind in North Carolina.  Before becoming mayor, Foxx served on the Charlotte City Council. As a Council Member, Foxx chaired the Transportation Committee, where he helped shepherd the largest transportation bond package in the city’s history.

Foxx is an attorney and has spent much of his career in private practice. Foxx also served as a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and staff counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Foxx holds a law degree from New York University, received on the distinguished Root-Tilden Scholarship for public service. He lives with his wife and two children.