Magazine serving the bus and rail transit & motorcoach operations since 1904
Issue link: https://metromag.epubxp.com/i/391573
68 < m ETRO m AGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 metro-magazine.com Sallye Perrin She aided in the planning, design, con- struction and bus integration of the Viva, which is notably successful. "We ended up rebranding the service to be attractive and something diferent than the regular bus service," she says. Perrin graduated from the University of Virginia and was one of the frst wom- en to do so. She then went on to receive a master's degree in civil engineering, join- ing PB in 1986. She was among the first to be hired for the company's Baltimore ofce. "I fell in love with transportation work and the planning that went into it," says Perrin, who went on to work on the imple- mentation of the Baltimore Metro exten- sion to Johns Hopkins Hospital as well as the city's new 22-mile light rail tran- sit system. "I value transit because it provides op- portunities for mobility, shapes cities and makes important impacts on how these cities grow," she says. "How do we create synergies and put together teams to build on our capabilities in pursuing public- private partnerships? Tat's what I'm in- terested in answering." — Brittni Rubin In her over 30-year career working on ma- jor transportation projects, Sallye Per- rin developed a specialty in public-pri- vate partnerships, commonly referred to as P3s. A senior vice president of Parsons Brinckerhof (PB), Perrin also serves as the company's P3 strategic director. Te market for P3s is expanding in the U.S. as President Barack Obama recent- ly announced a new federal efort called the "Build American Investment Initia- tive." Te order is designed to bring more private-sector dollars into public trans- portation. "Everybody wants to do things faster," Perrin says of P3s. "Te days of spending 20 years to develop and deliver a project are over — clients want to complete ma- jor projects in fve or six years, and they're interested in fnding diferent ways of f- nancing them so they don't have to wait for funding to trickle in." Perrin helps coordinate PB's approach to P3s. When she identifies an opportu- nity that might work for a municipality or state, she organizes a team to work on a proposal strategy — which can take up to a year to develop — and its delivery. "I help motivate teams to break away from what they normally do to come up with innovative solutions," Perrin says. "It's challenging but also one of the most exciting aspects of a P3 development." She also works with industry groups, speaks at conferences and develops ma- terials to help in the advocacy for P3s through PB. "P3s are becoming a norm, and that's an exciting time," Perrin says. "I fnd it re- ally thrilling to work on true integrated delivery where you're looking at projects holistically." Perrin is currently working with a team of PB designers on a signifcant P3 proj- ect in Boston. It includes a major under- ground structure and related highway and transportation improvements. Ac- cording to Perrin, the project is aiming for fnancial close this fall. Previously, Perrin worked in Istanbul with the Turkish Ministry of Transporta- tion on its light rail program. She served as environmental manager responsible for the assessment of transit alternatives for the existing system. Over the course of the project, she managed a group of 10 Turk- ish sub-consultants on the frst environ- mental assessment of its kind in Turkey. "All aspects of the project had impacts, and we evaluated the big picture," Perrin says. "We were working together to come up with a solution that optimized the spir- it of the project in conjunction with con- struction, design and maintenance." During a decade-long hiatus from PB from 1994 to 2004, Perrin helped imple- ment P3s for the development of four new transit lines in Houston. And prior to that, she led the development team for Viva, a bus rapid transit service operating in York Region, Ontario, Canada. The line now connects York Region to northern Toron- to, and the project was designed and built using a P3 model, with the province of Ontario as well as the federal government providing funding. WOMEN IN TRANSPORTATION Perrin works with industry groups, speaks at conferences and develops materials to help in the advocacy for P3s through Parsons Brinckerhof. Sr. VP/Strategic Director, Public-Private Partnerships TITLE Parsons Brinckerhoff ORGANIZATION Baltimore CITY