24th Annual Mobility 21 Summit

On behalf of the Mobility 21 Board of Directors, thank you to our sold-out audience for participating in the 24th Annual Mobility 21 Southern California Transportation Summit!

View the 2025 Summit Flickr Album

Watch the 2025 Summit Playlist

Summit Platinum Sponsor Spotlight:
HDR

Partnering for Progress: Delivering Vision Through Collaboration

At HDR, we believe lasting infrastructure begins with strong relationships—with our clients, our communities, and our small business partners that help bring ideas to life. Together, we deliver projects that reflect our clients’ vision, uplift communities, and create meaningful change across Southern California.

We’re proud to work alongside our small business partners, not just to meet goals, but to elevate voices, expand opportunity, and bring fresh perspectives where they matter most. HDR’s work on the High Desert Corridor is a powerful example. This proposed 54-mile high-speed rail line will connect Victor Valley to Palmdale, forming a vital link between California High Speed Rail and Brightline West to advance a high-speed rail network connecting LA Union Station to Las Vegas. As we support the next phase of work for this transformative project with the Joint Powers Agency, we’re leading engineering design and advisory services to advance preliminary design, systems planning, and integration with partner rail infrastructure—while collaborating with multiple stakeholders and 25 subconsultants, including 14 small businesses, to shape a future-ready corridor prioritizing access, equity, and innovation.

From station planning to multimodal integration, HDR is proud to partner with agencies and communities to deliver inclusive transportation solutions—advancing a more connected, resilient, and equitable future.

Mobility 21 Advisory Board Member Spotlight:
Travis Kraupa
VP – Business Development, West Coast and Pacific, FlatironDragados

Travis Kraupa is a Vice President for FlatironDragados (FD),
overseeing Business Development, Sales, Customer Relations
and Strategic Initiatives for the West Coast and Pacific
regions. Travis began his career as an engineer in the field,
getting an early exposure to a broad set of projects and clients
across North America. Leveraging his diverse professional
background in the infrastructure space, Travis drives the vision
and business strategy within FD’s core markets in the West,
which include the: Transportation, Water, Federal, Emerging
Energy & Technology, and Public-Private-Investments Sectors.

In his role, Travis works to build relationships with customers, in order to gain a deeper understanding as to what the key drivers are for their programs. A large focus of his external engagement is around advocating for collaborative project delivery, within the infrastructure space, while balancing the specific needs for the customer and communities they serve. Travis begins his efforts early on in the project lifecycle and works to identify the best partners that compliment FD, to ultimately provide a strong value proposition for the customer.

Travis is active in a number of organizations that advocate for the transportation industry such as DBIA, CMAA, AGC, Women in Heavy Civil Construction and Women in Transportation Seminar – where he has participated in a program to mentor young women who are starting out their career in the transportation industry. In his personal time, Travis enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, exploring the outdoors and traveling. In his travels he has had the experience of riding various public transit modes throughout North America and Europe and always looks to utilize this opportunity when abroad.

Mobility 21 Advisory Board Member Spotlight:
Heather Repenning
Vice President and Client Account Manager, Jacobs

Heather Repenning is a Vice President and Client Account Manager at Jacobs where she brings experts together to support resilient infrastructure in the Southern California area. Heather’s previous work experience includes serving as Executive Officer at LA Metro, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and Vice President of the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works. Prior to that, Heather served as Director of External Affairs for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College and earned a Master’s Degree from the University of California, Irvine.

Initial sand nourishment is part of larger reinforcement efforts to safeguard rail service through south Orange County

OCTA Completes Initial Sand Nourishment to Protect Coastal Rail Line through San Clemente

The Orange County Transportation Authority has completed its initial beach nourishment project at North Beach in San Clemente, continuing its broader effort to protect the rail line from erosion and unstable coastal bluffs.
As emergency reinforcement efforts continue, construction crews led by OCTA also began work in mid-September just south of the sand-nourishment project to restore the pedestrian beach trail and build a 1,400-foot catchment wall to protect the rail line from potential sliding on the bluffs. That work is scheduled to take about a year.

The Orange County Transportation Authority nourishes North Beach in San Clemente with more than 2,500 cubic yards of sand to help buffer the rail line from encroaching waves, part of an effort that will bring up to 540,000 cubic yards to the coastline in coming years.

Over a 10-day period, crews placed sand along more than a quarter-mile of shoreline to help buffer the tracks from waves and improve resilience against erosion. Work at North Beach, which began Sept. 5, wrapped up Monday morning as crews removed temporary construction fencing and restored permanent fencing between the tracks and the improved sand.

Based on an updated final pre-construction survey required just before work began, OCTA ultimately placed approximately 2,500 cubic yards of sand. The change from original projections of approximately 3,200 cubic yards reflects the strict permit requirements limiting nourishment to areas above the mean high tide line, as well as dynamic beach and environmental conditions.

“Completing this first placement of sand is an important milestone we should celebrate as we continue to work on protecting priority areas,” said OCTA Chair Doug Chaffee, also the county’s Fourth District Supervisor. “We are committed to protecting this vital rail link for passengers and freight through strategic placements of sand and other protective measures.”

The sand, hauled from Palm Springs and approved through rigorous environmental review, has been placed to a natural berm elevation and is serving its intended purpose.

This emergency nourishment is the first step in OCTA’s plan to place approximately 540,000 cubic yards of sand along San Clemente’s beaches. The catchment wall, along with an adjacent pedestrian path, is expected to be completed by next summer. OCTA remains committed to advancing sand nourishment and other protective measures to stabilize the coastal rail line and safeguard passenger and freight rail service along the LOSSAN corridor.

Long Range Transportation Plan

What: The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is seeking public feedback as part of the first phase of the Long-Range Transportation Plan, which outlines priorities for transportation improvements in Orange County over the next 20+ years. The plan will address key challenges, including evolving travel trends, aging infrastructure, funding uncertainties, and climate-related risks, to help the County prepare for the future and keep people and businesses moving efficiently through 2050.

How to participate: Take the online survey by Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. Attend the public webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Register here.

Help share: The multilingual e-communications toolkit provides ready-to-use content to be placed in social media platforms, blogs, on the web and more.

Learn more: www.octa.net/LRTP

SCAG 2026 Draft Public Participation Plan Available for Public Comment

The SCAG 2026 Draft Public Participation Plan is available for public comment. The Draft Public Participation Plan (PPP) outlines SCAG’s commitments to representative, accessible, and effective public and stakeholder participation in the development of its plans, programs, and initiatives. This plan defines audience categories, outlines methodologies for conducting participation efforts, summarizes communication methods, and describes SCAG’s measures and processes for evaluating its participation efforts.

SCAG has prepared the 2026 Draft Public Participation Plan in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations that set forth SCAG’s responsibilities as a metropolitan planning organization. A copy of the Notice for the Public Participation Plan is available on the project website. The 45-day public comment period for the 2026 Draft Public Participation Plan began on Sept. 22 and concludes on Nov. 7.
Read more about the plan on SCAG News, and for more information on how to submit a comment and to view a copy of the Draft Public Participation Plan and an Executive Summary visit the project website.

California Clean Air Day is back on Wednesday, October 1!

Pledge to replace one solo car trip with a sustainable option to reduce your emissions and promote healthy air quality.

Get moving for clean air by:

Walking, biking, or riding your scooter
Riding transit for free on Clean Air Day
Carpooling with family, friends, or coworkers
Skipping the commute and working from home

You could win an e-bike! Residents of the San Diego region who take the pledge and check the box to receive communications from trusted partners will be entered for the chance to win a folding e-bike, powered by Rad Power Bikes.

Mobility 21 at CTA’s Fall Conference — Nov. 5–7

Mobility 21, let’s keep the transportation and transit discussion going this November 5-7 at the California Transit Association’s 60th Annual Fall Conference & Expo. In coordination with our host agency, Long Beach Transit, this multi-day event will bring together experts from around the state and country for three days of learning, collaborating and networking with some of the best in the industry. You won’t want to miss our keynote speaker, former US DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, as he sits down for a compelling conversation with former ABC Network Correspondent David Kerley. Register today through the end of the month for discounted conference rates using the special code Mobility21. We look forward to seeing you in Long Beach!