Black Lives Matter

“Public” spaces are not public if they do not welcome everyone.

There is no “right of way” on sidewalks when their use is met with police harassment and violence.

A “safe street” is unsafe when it encodes systemic oppression and white supremacy.

We mourn George Floyd. We mourn Breonna Taylor. We mourn Ahmaud Arbery. We mourn all Black lives that have been taken by police brutality and other forms of racist violence. We stand with those who demand that the systems which routinely deny Black people their lives, liberty, and dignity be dismantled.

Black Lives Matter. Black people have the right to use public spaces and streets in safety and without fear.

As transportation professionals, planners, and engineers, we know that infrastructure, design, and policy are never neutral. They have been profoundly shaped by the legacies of genocide, slavery, Jim Crow, and redlining. They continue to be defined by disinvestment, coercive policing, and other forms of violence.

Mere awareness is insufficient. Our profession should not be facilitating systems of oppression, but dismantling them, upholding principles of justice in every dimension of our work. This requires decentering whiteness in, and confronting how racism and inequity structures, the development, form, and function of projects, as well as our workplaces, organizations, and institutions.

As a firm, we understand that this means we must do far more. We are committed to continually creating spaces for open and honest conversation, evaluating our hiring and promotional practices, building an inclusive and supportive work culture, and reassessing our project planning and design to ensure environmental and racial justice. In all of this, we must center the voices of, and stand with, our Black colleagues.

We are united in the belief that anti-racist action is essential. We are committed to using our collective voice and our work to help realize truly safe public spaces for all.