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At the Washington Department of Transportation last year, Allison Dane Camden helped launch an artificial intelligence project with the University of Washington to helping truck drivers find parking along Interstate 5.
The project proposes to extend the I-5 corridor to provide motorists better visibility of available parking along most of the west coast. It aims to display real-time truck parking availability information for 13 safety rest areas and six weigh stations near the interstate.
Now, Camden works in Washington, D.C., in an inaugural office-head role created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to develop multimodal freight policy and similar innovative solutions to freight issues nationally.
Camden’s I-5 truck parking project and leadership at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is a wealth of transportation experience she brings to her new role at US DOT, according to her old boss, Washington Transportation Secretary Roger Millar .
Asked what trucking executives should know about the newly appointed deputy assistant secretary for infrastructure and multimodal freight policy, Millar said, “She’s not new to your business. He gets it.”
In separate interviews with Trucking Dive, Millar and Washington Trucking Associations President and CEO Sheri Call spoke highly of Camden and her knowledge of trucking.
“I’ve always had a very positive working relationship with Allison,” Call said. “He understands the specificity of the industry. I was excited to see not only her appointment there, but just the fact that they are bringing attention on a more permanent basis to supply chain issues nationally.”
“A good choice for leadership”
Call, who has worked for the Washington Trucking Associations for more than two decades, cited Camden’s “breadth and depth of understanding” of various issues affecting the industry as benefits of having her at the helm of the new office.
“He was definitely a good choice to lead in this position,” said the CEO of the trucking association. “In Washington state, we do it all, whether it’s manufacturing, construction, agriculture [or] import/export, so he has a wide range of experience and I think he has a lot of really good resources to draw on.”
Call said Camden recommended her for a position on a community advisory group for the $7 billion replacement of an aging I-5 bridge connecting Washington and Oregon. Officials hope the project will begin in 2025.
The Washington Trucking Associations helped the state transportation department advocate for $1.8 million in funding for the I-5 AI parking initiative portion of the joint grant application, Call said.
“It doesn’t expand parking, but it does provide some technological solutions to the parking problem we have in Washington,” Call said. “We’re looking forward to bringing some technology to the parking situation here for trucks.”
A “change agent” with technical and people skills
Of all Camden’s skill sets, her technical knowledge and people skills will be invaluable to her in leading the multimodal freight office, Millar said.
“He gets the technical stuff,” he said. “She is familiar with the trucking community. She is familiar with logistics and supply chain. He deals with trucking and railroads and ports and all these people. So he knows this environment.
“But she’s also very experienced and very capable of doing government work. He has spent some time on the Hill. He knows what works and what doesn’t there. He has worked in the state government, he deals with local government, he has cooperated in public and private sector partnerships.
Camden has relationships with transportation officials across the country from her time at AASHTO, where she served as vice chair of the Transportation Policy Forum.
These relationships enable the kind of collaboration needed for a multistate push to implement technology solutions to help truckers find parking.
“It happened under Alison’s leadership,” Millar said. “Those are the things he’s been involved with, the kind of change agent the administration was looking for.”