“It means transportation where communities – people we know will always have their car – but when they don’t need their car, they might want to use a street car or a bus or a lite rail or have access to a walking and biking path,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told genConnect. We’re trying to work with communities so that they have all forms of transportation.” Watch LaHood talk rebuilding transit systems, what transportation will look like in the future, and providing assistance to veterans returning to the United States:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

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The Transportation Department is also working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to make sure America’s war veterans can get jobs. The agencies have set up a Web portal that allows vets to see what jobs are available and pertain to their skill set, and allows them to apply for those jobs online.

“We want to make sure our vets coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan or just retiring from service, to know that the work they’ve been doing – many of them in transportation in the military – have access to the kind of jobs we have available,” LaHood said.

genConnect is credentialed press at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we are interviewing the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

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