Polly Trottenberg

Polly Ellen Trottenberg (born March 16, 1964)[1] is an American civil servant who served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation from 2014 to 2020. In January 2021, she was announced as one of five women to be nominated as deputy secretaries in the Biden administration.[2]

Polly Trottenberg
United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation
Nominee
Assuming office TBD
President	Joe Biden
Leader	Pete Buttigieg
Succeeding	Steven G. Bradbury
Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation
In office January 27, 2014 – December 11, 2020
Appointed by	Bill de Blasio
Preceded by	Janette Sadik-Khan
Succeeded by	Margaret Forgione (Acting)
Personal details
Born	March 16, 1964 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Mark Zuckerman
Education	Barnard College (BA) Harvard University (MPP)

Early life and education

Trottenberg was born in Boston and grew up in Pelham, New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts.[3] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Barnard College in 1986 and a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.[4][5]

Career

Early career

Trottenberg was the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy, helping develop the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program.[6]

Trottenberg also served as a transportation policy adviser for Senators Charles Schumer, Barbara Boxer, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in addition to holding positions with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the nonprofit Building America's Future.[7]

NYC DOT

Polly Trottenberg was appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on December 31, 2013, to replace Janette Sadik-Khan as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation.[8] Trottenberg was sworn in on January 27, 2014.[9][10]

At NYC DOT, Trottenberg spearheaded the de Blasio administration’s efforts around a range of transportation issues, including:

• Expanding cycling with the growth of the city’s on-street protected bike lane network from 36 miles to over 120 miles, DOT committed to the Green Wave, a plan to create key commuting connections and extending further into traditionally underserved communities.  The Citi Bike bike share system, the largest in North America, also continued to grow.
• Working closely with MTA New York City Transit, DOT expanded access to buses, including an additional 64 more miles of dedicated bus lanes around the City since 2014, for a total of nearly 138 miles. The 14th Street Busway, begun in 2019, received international attention for increasing ridership and decreasing travel times.
• In 2014, New York City was the first American city to adopt Vision Zero, a multi-agency effort to reduce traffic crashes and fatalities through enforcement, engineering and education. Traffic fatalities in New York City have been recorded since 1910 — and seven of the city’s eight safest years happened after 2013.  As part of Vision Zero, Trottenberg successfully advocated for State legislation that allowed the City to lower its default speed limit to 25 MPH and expand its speed-camera program to 750 zones and 2,000 cameras, making it the largest such program in the world.
• In 2020, DOT served as New York City’s lead agency addressing changes to the urban streetscape in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. New York City was dramatically transformed through major DOT initiatives like Open Streets, Open Restaurants, Outdoor Learning and Open Storefronts. The Open Restaurants Program, with over 10,700 restaurants serving diners on sidewalks and streets, is among the largest in the world.[11]

Trottenberg was also a board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, having been confirmed for a 10-year term on June 23, 2014.[9] Seen as a voice of "sanity" on the board,[12] she resigned from the position on June 3, 2019.[13] Trottenberg also served as the chair of TRANSCOM, a coalition of 16 transportation-related agencies in the New York metropolitan area, from 2015 to 2019.[14]

Biden administration

In November 2020, Trottenberg was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Transportation.[15] On January 18, 2021, it was announced that Trottenberg would serve as United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation in the incoming Biden administration.[16]

References

1. Nominations to NASA, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, and the Department of Transportation: Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, July 8, 2009. 2010. ISBN 9780160856518.
2. Rein, Lisa. "Biden, filling out his government, to name five women as deputy secretaries". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
3. Wolfe, Kathryn a. "Trottenberg: Tick tock on transportation". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
4. "Founders Day | Barnard College". barnard.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
5. "Polly Trottenberg". National Association of City Transportation Officials. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
6. Fried, Ben (December 31, 2013). "NYC's Next Transportation Commissioner Is Polly Trottenberg". Streetsblog.
7. "De Blasio Picks Trottenberg to be NYC Transportation Commissioner | WNYC | New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News". WNYC.
8. Davies, Alex. "Bill De Blasio Has Named His Choice To Run Transportation In New York City". Business Insider.
9. "Polly Trottenberg". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
10. "Polly E. Trottenberg". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
11. "Polly Trottenberg Announces Departure from De Blasio Administration". The Official Website of the City of New York. November 23, 2020.
12. Rubinstein, Dana (June 5, 2019). "Trottenberg, a voice of 'sanity' on MTA board, submits resignation". Politico. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
13. Kuntzman, Gersh (June 6, 2019). "Anatomy of a Resignation: Why Polly Trottenberg Quit the MTA Board". Streetsblog. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
14. "Commissioner Polly Trottenberg". New York City Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
15. "Agency Review Teams". President-Elect Joe Biden. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
16. "Biden Names Polly Trottenberg as Deputy Secretary of Transportation". www.ny1.com. Retrieved 2021-01-19.

External links

• New York City Department of Transportation Biography