i michael allegra ceo of the utah transit authority and i'm honored to be able to host this medal todayeat mayors from three incredible cities. i've been in the business a long time, for decades, and i started my career here in virginia, and i appreciate the fact that c-span is here to frankly help spread the dialogue about investments in transportation. you know in utah we have benefited significantly by our partnerships with the federal agencies. our first full funding grant agreement came to us in 1997. subsequently to that, we've gotten six full funding grants, about 140 miles of rail 14 years, perhaps the quickest in this nation. and we've been getting significantly by that investment. a decade or so ago our community, state and local government in partnership with the federal agencies decided and made a commitment to invest their tax resources in transportation, highways and transit. we now are one of the best economic states in the country. i will tell you that no one no elected official has lost their job because of that commitment that they made a decade ago. in fact, our gover