Oregon governors have had transportation advisers before. Lynn Peterson wants to be something different.

Peterson, an OTREC advisory board member and former Clackamas Board of County Commissioners chairwoman, joined Gov. John Kitzhaber’s administration in March as sustainable communities and transportation policy adviser.

“I’ve always been a transportation advocate,” Peterson said. “But we talked about the need to integrate transportation with housing and economic development and land use.

“By adding ‘sustainable communities’ to transportation adviser, we were basically saying, ‘Listen: as we move through the transportation discussion, we need to consider the health component, the housing component, the overlaps in other areas.’ “

Peterson brings a broad transportation policy background, having earned graduate degrees in both planning and engineering from Portland State University. She worked in transportation planning for both Metro and TriMet, as a transportation advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon, and also served on the Lake Oswego City Council.

Peterson said she didn’t hesitate to step into a role that places her in the center of potentially contentious...

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OTREC is pleased to announce the formation of its Board of Advisors, as outlined in the OTREC Strategic Plan. The Board consists of representatives from public agencies (including FHWA, FTA, ODOT, TriMet, Port, etc.), private industry and transportation-related interest groups. The role of the BOA is to help develop OTRECís foundation and provide guidance on OTRECís overall mission. The Board will help with long-range planning and direction, identify priority research topics, review annual report and goals, serve as a connection to key agency partners and provide statewide, multimodal, public/private perspectives on research, education and outreach. A complete list of members can be found here.