U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood visits VCU

By Mike Porter

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood visited Virginia Commonwealth University on Jan. 25 to hold a town hall meeting with a group of invited students.

LaHood was in the city to discuss President Obama’s transportation priorities, using the Lombardy Street bridge replacement project on Interstate 95 as a backdrop. He said scheduling a stop at VCU was a way to talk to students about the president’s vision for transportation and to take their questions.  

LaHood told the students that no question was off limits and they responded with questions about vehicle efficiency, hybrid and electric vehicle affordability, passenger rail and light rail projects, his vision of the “American dream” and the nation’s drug policies.

LaHood also discussed transportation safety, distracted driving and the president’s State of the Union address, which had taken place the previous evening.

“The president did lay out a bold vision about how we get our economy moving – how we put people back to work and part of that is transportation,” LaHood said.

Nearly 100 students turned out for the town hall, which took place in the University Commons Theater and lasted about an hour.