美國交通部本部正門（Untied States Department of Transportation DC Headquarter Front Entrance）

 

【美新社華盛頓訊】12月15日下午，美國交通部部長趙小蘭女士邀請華文媒體走訪美國交通部本部，期望與華文媒體建立更加廣泛和深度的了解與互動。

【Chinese News USA, Washington DC】On Dec 15，Ms. Elaine L. Chao, the Secretary of Department of Transportation, invited a hand full of Chinese Media Outlets visited the Department, in order to establish a broader and deeper understanding, as well as a better relationship with the Chinese media.

 

交通部部長趙小蘭因公幹未能出席當天的見面會，但委派副幕僚長、運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman、部長助理、公共事務主管瑪瑞安娜.麥克納尼（Marianne McInerney）女士、以及高級顧問張曼君女士為華文媒體做詳盡介紹，當天走訪了交通部媒體中心，危機處置中心，以及部長辦公室。

Unfortunately, Ms. Elaine L. Chao, the Secretary of Department of Transportation, was not in due to a business trip. But she was very kind to instruct Mr. J. Todd Inman, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Operations; Ms. Marianne McInerney, Assistant to The Secretary and Director of Public Affairs; and Ms. Marina Tse, Senior Advisor to give a guided tour to the Department. Representatives from Chinese Media outlets were able to take a closer look and insides about the Media Center, Crisis Management Center, and the Office Suite of Secretary.

 

副幕僚長、運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）歡迎華文媒體代表的到訪，並概要介紹交通部組織結構。

At the Media Center, Mr. J. Todd Inman, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Operations, welcomed representatives from Chinese Media outlets, and provided a brief introduction of the Department of Transpiration.

 

美國交通部首先是管轄公共交通安全為主旨的組織，其次也是管理公共交通基礎設施的機構，下轄11個運營職能機構。其中道路相關的機構比重最大，如道路與橋樑（FHWA）、卡車運輸（FMCSA）、交通工具（NHTSA）；其次是航空運輸，如聯邦空管局（FAA）；再有鐵路運輸（FRA）、水路運輸（MARAD）、公共交通（FTA）等。美國交通部在本部有近5000名員工、全國則有近6萬名職員，最新的預算則達到880億美元。

Department of Transpiration is to ensure the nation has the safest, most efficient and modern transportation system in the world. The Department also manages and improves infrastructures around the transportation system.

 

As of today, the Department has 11 Operating Administrations, among which FHWA: Roadways and Bridges, FMSCA: Trucking and Motorcoaches, NHTSA: Automobiles, etc. are related to road transportation; while FAA: Aviation, FRA: Railways, MARAD: Maritime, is related to Air transportation, Rail transportation, Waterway transportation respectively.

 

The Department’s D.C. headquarter employees about 5000 people, and about 60000 employees nationwide., with a budget of 88 billion dollars.

 

運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）也指出，石油、天然氣管道等作為危險品運輸也屬與美國交通部。他打趣的說，“就連奧林匹克火炬接力，也是交通部管轄的範圍，因為火炬和燃料是易燃品。”

Mr. J. Todd Inman, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Operations also pointed out that oil and natural gas pipelines are also under the Department’s management, even though they are not visible to the public. “Believe or not, if there is a Olympic torch relay in the US, it will be under the Department’s supervision as well, since the torch and its fuel are farmable items.” Mr. J. Todd Inman gave an interesting example.

美新社執行長楊憬（圖左一）受邀出席活動

Ms. Jing Yang, CEO of Chinese News USA, was among the ones invited to the tour.

 

在交通部媒體中心，部長助理、公共事務主管瑪瑞安娜.麥克納尼（Marianne McInerney，上圖右）女士在新聞發佈會大廳介紹說，該大廳可以讓交通部長和部門隨時召開新聞發佈會。就在上週，交通部召開了新聞發布會，公佈了一項全美範圍的基礎建設計劃：批准15億美元項目金額、涉及48個州的92個項目。媒體中心除了可以容納超100位各機構各部門的專業人士參與，也可以進行實況轉播，在線直播等。媒體中心還有專用攝影棚，可以錄製短片等公共宣傳資料。

While at the Media Center, Ms. Marianne McInerney, Assistant to The Secretary and Director of Public Affairs, introduced the news conference hall. This hall enables the Secretary and the Department to host news conference(s) at own schedule. The very latest one was last week. A national-wide infrastructure plan was announced, which has a 1.5billion budget for 92 projects in 48 states.

The Media Center is the ideal space to accommodate over 100 representatives from multiple agencies and departments to host joint news conference.

The Media Center is equipped with latest technologies to perform live broadcasting, or real time streaming, and has its own studios to record informative or promotional contents.

 

公共事務主管瑪瑞安娜.麥克納尼女士也向來賓們展示了美國交通地理圖（Transportation Geography of the United States)，匯集了全美的主要高速公路和公路系統、水路交通、鐵路交通網絡等重要信息。同時也指出一些不為人知的信息，比如根據2015年的數據，以噸位計算的話，休斯頓港才是真正的全美第一國際貿易港口，進口貨物噸位達到7100萬噸、出口貨物噸位達到9200萬噸、國內貿易貨物噸位也達到7800萬噸。洛杉磯港和長灘港的進口貨物分別為4500萬噸和3600萬噸，出口貨物分別為2200萬噸和1900萬噸。

Ms. Marianne McInerney, Assistant to The Secretary and Director of Public Affairs, also elaborated on the 《Transportation Geography of the United States》, which highlighted the networks of major highways, roads, waterway, railroads, public transit, etc.

Ms. Marianne McInerney shared many surprising details too: According to 2015’s data, Port of Houston was the actually No.1 in terms of international trade cargo tonnage handled. It recorded 71 million tons of import goods, 92 million tons of export goods, and 78 million tons of domestic trade goods, while Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach recorded 45 million and 36 million tons of import goods respectively, and 22 million and 19 million tons of export goods respectively.

 

公共事務主管瑪瑞安娜.麥克納尼女士也欽佩美國交通部部長趙小蘭女士，能將這些知識熟記於心。她透露說，部長趙小蘭女士同時在工作多個項目，其中一個就是中西部交通事故及死亡率的居高不下，其中很重要的原因是司機沒有使用安全帶。部長也希望可以通過更多的媒體宣傳來影響事故高發群體和年輕一代，逐漸減少事故發生率和死亡率。

Ms. Marianne McInerney also admires the Secretary Chao, who can memorize much knowledge and things in the back of her head. She revealed that the Secretary Chao is working on several projects at the same time. One of them is the high traffic accident and death rate in the Midwest. One big reason is that many drivers in the incident did not use seat belts. the Secretary Chao hopes that more media outlets can educate and influence the high-incident groups and the younger generation. So that can bring the accident rate and death rate down gradually.

危機處置中心內景

Inside Crisis Management Center

副幕僚長、運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）介紹說，危機處置中心（Crisis Management Center)是在危機發生時，作為聯合指揮中心，由幾十個相關機構和部門共同辦公、協調和處置危機，其中包括國防部、國土安全局、內務部等等。在必要的時候，美國總統也會加入。

Mr. J. Todd Inman, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Operations shared that Crisis Management Center will be used as the joint command center during crisis, such as “9.11” terrorist attack.  

During a crisis, many partner agencies, such as Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Interior, and stakeholders, will work together in the same room, to coordinate and neutralize the crisis.  If necessary, the President will join the operation as well.

 

運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）指出，“9.11”事件時開啟的電話會議至今沒有結束，正是為了防範類似事件的發生，每天有專人值班。這可能是有史以來最長的電話會議。

Mr. J. Todd Inman pointed out that upon “9.11” terrorist attack, one conference call was created and had hundreds of people in the loop. As of today, this conference is never ended, and representatives from relevant agencies and departments still stay on call, just to set ready to handle incident like “9.11“terrorist attack.  It should be the longest conference call in U.S. history.

全美49州實時空中監控圖。每一個綠色的小點代表了一架飛行器。每天全美有超過3萬架次的飛行器起降，都在交通部空中交通管理局的掌控中。

Real time Air Traffic control map of 49 states was on wall display. Every single moving green dot represents an aircraft. Everyday, there are over 30000 aircraft taking off and landing monitored by this map.

副幕僚長、運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）向媒體代表們展示“9.11”事件當天的空中管制錄像：事件發生前，美國東部空中交通繁忙。

Mr. J. Todd Inman ran the recording of Air Traffic control map during “9.11” terrorist attack: Right before the first plane crashed into the world trade center, the air traffic over East Coach was already very heavy.

“9.11”事件發生後，美國全境內實行“禁飛令”，所有飛行器按照指令降落，前後花費了4個小時。

During the incident, once the authorities determined “9.11” was a terrorist attack, whole nation’s air space was shut down. Within 4 hours, all the aircrafts in the air were ordered to land.

美國交通部“雙子大樓”的中庭的牆上掛有歷任交通部長的油畫畫像。副幕僚長、運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）透露說：趙小蘭部長上任後，把這些畫像從樓上移到了樓下。從而讓人們有機會向這些為美國交通事業做出貢獻的先人們致敬。趙小蘭部長也指示，自己的畫像將使用照片，而非油畫畫像。因為她認為納稅人的金錢可以用在其他更加需要的地方。

The Department’s D.C. headquarter has two buildings, almost identical.  When walking between two buildings, on the wall of the atrium are the oil paintings portraits of successive Secretaries of Transportation.

After taking office, the Secretary Chao instructed to move these portraits from the upstairs to current locations. This gives people the opportunity to pay tribute to these ancestors who have contributed to the American transportation industry.

The Secretary Chao also instructed that her portraits would use photographs instead of oil paintings. Because she believes that taxpayer money can be used elsewhere it is more needed.

另一方面，趙小蘭部長也經常在交通部樓下的公共餐廳就餐，從而可以讓下屬和員工們有更多機會與她交流和互動。

On the other hand, The Secretary Chao often have her lunch at public Cafeterias downstairs, which allows subordinates and employees to have more opportunities to interact and talk to her.

副幕僚長、運營主管托德.英曼（J.Todd Inman）帶領媒體代表參觀趙小蘭部長的辦公室（內部不能攝影）

Representatives from Chinese Media Outlets were also given a short tour to The Secretary Chao’s suite on the top floor. (Due to security reason, no photo is allowed inside the suite)

趙小蘭部長的辦公室旁的會議室內陳列著前總統林肯的多部文件手跡

In the conference room next to The Secretary Chao’s suite, displayed documents hand-written by former President Abraham Lincoln. Many of them are over 150 years old.

美國交通部高級顧問張曼君女士協助帶領華文媒體參觀交通部（圖右：美新社執行長楊憬）

Marina Tse, Senior Advisor, assisted representatives from Chinese Media outlets to tour Department of Transportation. (Ms. Jing Yang, CEO of Chinese News USA, Right)

美國交通部“雙子大樓”的中庭內景

The atrium of two buildings, which look almost identical.