Policy Drivers Episode Ten: Dr. Carol Lewis

This week on Policy Drivers we had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Carol Lewis. As a current Transportation Studies professor at Texas Southern University (TSU), Dr. Lewis encourages her students to understand the fundamentals of transportation and their connection to urban transportation issues. Due to her positions on the H-GAC Transportation Policy Council and Gulf Coast Rail District in the Houston-Galveston area, she offered us some wonderful insight to her work and the future of Houston and Texas transportation.

When we asked her for the best piece of advice she could give young and eager policy nerds, she said, “The biggest piece of advice I can offer is be patient. You are going to want things to move quickly and they don’t.” We often want everything to be fixed overnight, but that is not how the policy world works. 

If you are looking for some light reading, Dr. Lewis recommended that any policy nerd or planning aficionado should read “The Science of ‘Muddling Through’” by Charles E. Lindblom. It was written in 1959, but it is still incredibly relevant today!

Dr. Lewis gave us an optimistic outlook for the future of transportation here in Texas, and I hope that she inspires many of you as well! Dive in with us, policy nerds! 

You can check out the other Policy Drivers episodes on the Farm&City YouTube Channel.

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