June 26, 2008
PAG presents 4th annual Swanson regional leadership award
to the late William R. Reilly, former transportation engineer
Transportation was the focus of the late William R. “Bill” Reilly’s life and he worked with many other people to help them understand the complex subject.
Pima Association of Governments’ Regional Council posthumously recognized Mr. Reilly today with the Thomas L. Swanson Regional Leadership Award for his volunteer efforts and regional leadership in the field of transportation.
Mr. Reilly, who passed away unexpectedly on April 27, 2008, was a professional engineer in Tucson with a career spanning more than 45 years.
Professional engineers Jim Schoen of Kittelson & Associates and Curtis Lueck of CLA nominated Mr. Reilly for the award and noted his many accomplishments:
●He made significant and lasting contributions to the engineering profession as a researcher, educator and practicing engineer, with most of his career spent in the Tucson area.
●He is remembered as one of the leading experts in traffic engineering in the United States and abroad and was a primary researcher and author of the 1985 and 2000 Highway Capacity Manuals.
●On assignment to the World Bank, he worked to improve the transportation systems in Chile, Columbia, Latin America, and throughout the Caribbean.
●His surviving legacy includes dozens of engineers and planners who he taught while an instructor at the University of Arizona and mentored at JHK & Associates, Catalina Engineering and Kittelson & Associates. He encouraged them to continually strive to not only improve themselves, but also the communities in which they live. Many of his protégées continue to practice in the region, and work regularly on public and private sector projects.
●He was very active in regional planning activities at PAG. Among his many activities was long-term membership on Pima County’s Environmental Quality Advisory Committee and the Regional Transportation Authority’s Citizens Accountability for Regional Transportation Committee.
●He also helped guide the formation and direction of the RTA through its successful election in 2006.
The Swanson award is given in honor of PAG’s former executive director, the late Thomas L. Swanson, to acknowledge an individual or organization affecting positive change in the Tucson metropolitan region.
Criteria for the Swanson award include:
· Enhancing the regional community despite often restrictive jurisdictional boundaries.
· Promoting cooperation among citizens and local elected officials.
· Providing leadership for regional growth via strong local government representation. |