Robert Puentes
President and CEO
Eno Center for Transportation
Robert Puentes is President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation a non-profit think tank with the mission of improving transportation policy and leadership. Prior to joining Eno, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program where he directed the program’s Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative. He is currently a non-resident senior fellow with Brookings. Before Brookings, Robert was the director of infrastructure programs at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
Robert has worked extensively on a variety of transportation issues, including infrastructure funding and finance, and city and urban planning. He is a frequent speaker to a variety of groups, a regular contributor in newspapers and other media, and has testified before Congressional committees. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Virginia where he served on the Alumni Advisory Board, and was an affiliated professor with Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.
Robert serves on a variety of boards including the Shared-Use Mobility Center, UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies, and Young Professionals in Transportation. Recent appointments include the Federal Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity, New York State’s 2100 Infrastructure Commission; the Advisory Council of the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Transportation Reinvention Commission; the District of Columbia’s Streetcar Financing and Governance Task Force; the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s Technical Advisory Committee; and the Falls Church, Virginia Planning Commission where he lives with his wife and three sons.
Recent Publications
Filling Gaps in US Spectrum Allocation: Reforms for Collaborative Management
Interrelated gaps and failures in the process and policies used to efficiently allocate spectrum demand comprehensive reform. To prevent future failures, policymakers must improve device performance, increase data gathering and sharing, and clarify the spectrum allocation process.
Recent Events and Presentations
Innovation vs. Maintenance in the Drive Toward “Hybrid” Infrastructure
The emergence of hybrid infrastructure—infrastructure that integrates digital technology with physical infrastructure—will be more efficient and sustainable than the concrete roads and bridges of yesteryear. But the new technologies raise the question of whether to prioritize maintaining existing infrastructure or deploying innovative new infrastructure.
