According to the American Public Transit Association, U.S. public transit systems provided 10.1 billion trips in 2017, a 30 percent increase from 20 years ago. Due to this unprecedented growth, the future of transit in our country will be faced by some unique challenges and opportunities.

Here are three trends that I believe will shape the transit industry:

Funding Availability

Though still insufficient, there are new funding opportunities that have emerged in the past few years driven by an increasing public awareness of the significant benefits of mass transit and its positive effect on states' economies. With the passage or renewal of key state legislation like the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund, there is a consistent funding stream to modernize older infrastructure as well as to plan for expanded transit services in the future. Similarly, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act was enacted in 2015, which will provide transit funding through fiscal year 2020 to improve mobility, streamline capital project construction and acquisition, and increase the safety of public transportation systems across the country.

Ultimately, however, there's still more to do both in advocacy at the local and federal government levels as well as in raising awareness to the public as our backlog to modernize transit infrastructure continues to grow.

A Shift Towards Design-Build

Each year the transit industry must accommodate the public's growing need for public transportation. We're seeing transit agencies moving more and more towards a design-build project implementation methodology that shares risk, shortens delivery time, and creates greater budget certainty. The benefits of design-build are primarily realized through the ability for significant collaboration between the designer and constructor, providing the opportunity for creative design and efficient construction means and methods. This delivery method requires true partnering between project owners, designers, and contractors in every facet of a project from the notice to proceed to the time the project is placed into service.

This shift shouldn't come as much of a surprise, however, as the method has proven to deliver quality results. A great example of a design-build transit project we're working on is the Metrorail Silver Line in the greater Washington, D.C. area. The project is exemplary of how design-build can be a catalyst for implementing unique design approaches and innovative solutions. You can check out Ross Burhouse's blog for more details on some of the innovations, including thru-girder bridge solutions and engineering bridges for tight spaces that were implemented on Phase 2 of the project.

A Changing Workforce

The rail and transit workforces are retiring at a rapid pace. At a recent conference I attended, it was estimated that in seven years the transit and rail industries will consist of a workforce that's nearly 75 percent millennials. This leaves the potential for a significant knowledge gap within the engineering community. Firms should look to train and educate their young employees in client relationships, proven delivery methods, and in strong leadership qualities.

While the demographics may sound alarming, this shifting workforce is not a bad thing for the industry. New thinking in leadership roles will help put a greater emphasis on the cutting edge and will hopefully help to develop technologies that provide improved safety and better service to the millions of customers that our transit clients serve each and every day.