Pete Ruane, President and CEO, American Road & Transportation Builders Association
Biography provided by participant
Dr. T. Peter Ruane is the president and CEO of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), a 106-year old national federation of public and private transportation construction interests with over 5,000 members headquartered in Washington, D.C. He has over 35 years of diversified experience in the economic development, transportation and construction fields.
Prior to joining ARTBA in October 1988, he served for nine years as President/CEO of the National Moving and Storage Association (NMSA) an international trade association with members in over 50 countries and its affiliate organizations.
Ruane served as the deputy director of the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), Office of the Secretary of Defense and the President's Economic Adjustment Committee where he worked on complex economic development projects stemming from military base closures or growth impacts in more than 30 states over the period 1970 to 1980.
He received numerous awards as a member of the Senior Executive Service, including the top two government-wide management awards available to a young federal executive (Arthur Fleming and William A. Jump Foundation), and the Secretary of Defense's Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.
Ruane is a graduate of Loyola College of Baltimore, and holds a master's degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He also holds the professional designation Certified Association Executive (CAE).
He is a decorated Vietnam veteran, having served as an officer with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Ruane is a past chairman and current Director of the Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC), a permanent coalition of some 100 trade organizations representing the entire spectrum of U.S. business. He has held numerous volunteer and elective positions including six years as a Director of the school board at St. Mary's of Annapolis, four of which he served as President. He currently serves as Treasurer, as well as a World Executive Board member of the International Road Federation. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Calvert Hall College High School (Baltimore) and a trustee of the Transportation Development Foundation. He is the Vice Chairman of the U.S. Chamber-led Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM), a broad-based coalition focused on major national transportation legislation. He also co-chairs the Transportation Construction Coalition, a permanent thirty member market-oriented construction trade association and labor coalition working on industry legislative and regulatory issues. He is a frequent witness before Congress and guest on national news programs.
He is the first association executive to have been awarded the American Public Works Association Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and was voted one of Engineering News-Record magazine's top newsmakers from throughout the world in 1998. Both of these awards were for his unique personal leadership in the passage of TEA-21, then the largest public works legislation in the history of the United States. In December 2000 he was appointed as the only construction industry trade association executive to serve on the Bush-Cheney Transportation Transition Team. In 2004 he was designated one of the Top 100 Private Sector Transportation Construction Professionals of the 20th Century and recently was named one of Public Works magazine's 2005 "Trendsetters" for his leadership in helping to pass SAFETEA-LU.
Ruane was a member of the graduate school faculty at George Washington University for four years, and has been a guest lecturer at a number of universities including Oklahoma, Iowa, American and the National Defense University. He is a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the U.S. Marine Corps. Heritage Foundation.
He and his wife Pat reside in Davidsonville, Maryland and have four grown children (Jeanne, Tom, Katie and Colleen) and six grandchildren.
“Transportation safety” can mean many things. Reducing fatalities and injuries related to distracted, drunk and drugged driving and the failure to use safety belts all rightly deserve the attention and resources of both federal and state governments, and private user and safety groups. But there is also more we can do. For those of us involved in the transportation infrastructure business, our safety focus is on “both sides of the barrel,” meaning both motorists and industry workers. To promote greater public awareness, and give lawmakers and government officials the latest data on this issue, a group of 28 national construction… Read more
More than half of U.S. highway fatalities are related to deficient roadway conditions – a substantially more lethal factor than drunk driving, speeding or non-use of safety belts, according a landmark study just released by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). The 22,000 fatalities attributed to a poor roadway environment cost America $217 billion annually. This dwarfs the costs of other safety factors, including $130 billion for alcohol, $97 billion for speeding, or $60 billion for failing to wear a safety belt. The report shows roadway-related crashes impose $20 billion in medical costs; $46 billion in productivity costs;… Read more
This latest question about the so-called “VMT tax” and the machinations from the Obama Administration last week demonstrate the outcome from the time-honored pitfall of putting the cart before the horse. While Secretary LaHood’s comments were entirely appropriate and thoughtful, the reaction from the media and others was simply a replay of what has occurred whenever someone has the temerity to actually discuss a tangible solution to a grossly unaddressed problem. The fact remains we are facing a devastating surface transportation financing crisis--one which many of our elected officials and certainly the general public at large do not fully appreciate. … Read more
While the U.S. collectively twiddles its thumbs, other nations are busy implementing long-term, strategic transportation improvement plans. Some of these countries are already eating our lunch. And pretty soon, unless we change course, they will be eating our breakfast and dinner. China is on pace to build 53,000 miles of Interstates by 2020. India is building 25,000 highway miles. Europe plans to add more than 10,000 new miles of road and rail capacity over the same period. By 2020, current trends suggest the U.S. will add just 1,130 miles to our Interstate Highway System, and even less new capacity for… Read more
I take President-elect Obama at his word that the goal of the recovery package is to create jobs and get the U.S. economy back on track. So let’s get to it and stop pondering our navels. The transportation construction industry lost a record-setting 26,000 jobs in November, the most recent reporting period. These workers join 1.4 million unemployed construction workers nationwide. Let’s not over-complicate the process by trying to define every possible eventuality, concept, project type and regulation from Washington—that’s a recipe for gridlock and red tape, and not for success. The overarching criteria for funds provided in a recovery… Read more
The signs of transportation infrastructure decay and under investment are all around us. Any American driving on the highway, riding on a train or flying out of an airport knows all too well about overcrowding and delays. More than 43,000 people die on our highways every year. The economic chokehold on American businesses grows tighter because products sit on trucks that are stuck in traffic gridlock. Given the "capacity deficiencies" and the crumbling state of America's transportation network, of course, the next surface transportation investment bill should significantly boost investment in transit, just as it should for highways and bridges.… Read more
How Should The Infrastructure Stimulus Be Spent? While investing in highway and transit projects is a road to economic recovery and should be a key part of any stimulus package, simply throwing transportation dollars at the current crisis—unless done right—would be a critical mistake. Unfortunately, much of the public has come to equate the term “road” with another four-letter word: pork. Every transportation dollar included in the stimulus package should be subjected to a strict review process. To that end, both the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office should be charged with conducting independent reviews… Read more
Refocus, reform, restructure and refinance the nation’s federal surface transportation program. That should be the top priority for President Obama, the new U.S. secretary of transportation and all stakeholders involved in the 2009 highway/transit investment bill. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) (link) has a detailed plan (link) to achieve this goal. Here’s the refocus part: First, let’s really do something about traffic safety. Forty-two thousand deaths a year and the $230 billion toll on the American economy caused by motor vehicle crashes is a national disgrace. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death and… Read more
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