The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) invites Tennesseans to submit nominations for the third annual 2017 Sustainable Transportation Awards. The deadline to submit nominations is March 31, 2017.

The Awards recognize outstanding initiatives within the state of Tennessee to reduce transportation-related energy and emissions, in line with an overarching effort to save natural resources, improve the health and well-being of Tennesseans, and create efficiencies in the delivery of goods and services.

“The annual Sustainable Transportation Awards and Forum provides an opportunity to recognize key transportation achievements and innovations as well as to energize the discussion around what can be done next,” said TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau.

A panel of judges representing diverse interests will select award recipients based on the following criteria:

• Innovation: How the project utilized new thinking or creative approaches to meet a particular transportation challenge.
• Best Practices and Replicability: How the project demonstrates a transferable solution, such that others could adopt or implement similar programs or initiatives.
• Changes in Transportation Behavior: How a project worked to encourage or achieve changes in transportation behavior in order to make a transportation system more efficient.
• Improvements to Public Health and Safety: How a project creates improvements to public health, well-being, or safety in a given community.

Eligible entities include federal, state and local governments; commercial, nonprofit, and industrial organizations; public and private institutions of higher education; and utilities. The entity must be located in Tennessee, and the project must have been completed in the last five years. All nominees must be in environmental compliance with TDEC. Self-nominations are encouraged.

In connection with Clean Air Month, TDEC, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, will host a recognition ceremony and sustainable transportation forum on May 23-24, 2017, at the Downtown Nashville Public Library. The forum, entitled “Navigating Toward a Livable Tennessee,” will highlight local transportation planning and the pursuit of place-based policies and investments for improved access, mobility, safety, sustainability and affordability of transportation options in our communities.

Applications and more information about the TDEC Sustainable Transportation Awards and Forum are available here.

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Alexa Voytek in TDEC’s Office of Energy Programs at (615) 532-0238 or Alexa.Voytek@tn.gov.