The importance of building road safety for vulnerable road users into infrastructure investment projects was highlighted at the World Resources Institute and World Bank conference, Transforming Transportation, supported by the FIA Foundation. 

The 23rd edition of Transforming Transportation in Washington, D.C. saw Avi Silverman, FIA Foundation Interim Executive Director, join leaders from government, transport organisations, finance, academia and the private sector. The conference brought together more than 5,000 in-person and online participants, as part of a dynamic hybrid programme focusing on how effective transport systems underpin vibrant economies while also advancing safety and environmental goals.  

During the session ‘Safe Public Transport and E-Mobility Systems’, Avi Silverman discussed how to reframe investment, highlighting that infrastructure investment projects that integrate road safety into key metrics can secure faster, more reliable returns while saving lives. The report, ‘Financing Infrastructure for Safe and Sustainable Mobility,’ launched by the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), reframes road safety as essential to ensuring returns for investors in transport infrastructure. 

The session was moderated by Felipe A. Ramirez Buitrago, Director, Urban Mobility, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, World Resources Institute with speakers: María Fernanda Ortiz Carrascal, General Manager, TransMilenio; Enio Costa, Chairman of the Board, Angola’s National Land Transport Agency (ANTT); Marilyn Glele Kakai, Head of Studies, Strategic Division, of the Benin Ministry of Economy and Finance; Andrea San Gil Leon, Executive Director, Global Network for Popular Transportation; and Ugyen Norbu, Chief Program Officer, Department of Surface Transport, Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Bhutan. 

The Foundation also held meetings at World Bank headquarters with MDB representatives on scaling-up the programmes it supports around the world.