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Shirley Ybarra
Shirley Ybarra
Senior Transportation Policy Analyst
Senior Transportation Policy Analyst
Reason Foundation
shirley.ybarra@reason.org
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Bio
Shirley Ybarra is a senior transportation policy analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets.
Ms. Ybarra served as Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1998 to 2002, overseeing a budget of $3.2 billion and a staff of 13,000 people. Between 1994 and 1998, Ybarra was Virginia's Deputy Secretary of Transportation.
Ybarra also served as senior policy advisor and special assistant for policy for U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole from 1983 to 1987. In that role, Ybarra managed the transfer and privatization of Dulles and National Airports to the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority.
Ybarra authored Virginia's Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995, considered the model public-private partnership legislation in the United States.
In 2001, Ybarra received the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's "Public-Private Ventures Entrepreneur of the Year Award" for her leadership in designing innovative infrastructure financing.
She holds a Master's degree in Economics and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
AllStudiesBlog PostsOp-Eds
- Virginia Shouldn't Restrict Its Public-Private Transportation Act
Remarks at the Thomas Jefferson Institute Transportation Roundtable
Shirley Ybarra
December 19, 2012 - Transportation Research Board Publishes Report on Airport Privatization
Shirley Ybarra
May 29, 2012, 11:55am - Reason Foundation, Bipartisan Policy Center, Building America's Future and Others Urge Congress to Give State and Local Governments More Transportation Flexibility
Fix the highway bill so state and local governments have flexibility to use pricing, private capital and other needed funding sources
Shirley Ybarra
May 16, 2012 - Tunnel Project Needs to Move Ahead
Improvements are vital to mobility, port commerce and regional economy
Shirley Ybarra and Leonard Gilroy
April 13, 2012 - Congress Passes Short-Term Transportation Bill
How Congress struggled with the bill’s tolling provisions
Shirley Ybarra
March 30, 2012 - Virginia Needs to be Cautious and Not Ruin Its Public-Private Partnership Track Record
Robert Poole and Shirley Ybarra
February 2, 2012, 10:50am - Virginia's High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes Changed to 'Express Lanes'
An in-depth look at the highway project
Shirley Ybarra
February 1, 2012 - Comparison of the Essential Air Service Program to Alternative Coach Bus Service
Keeping small communities connected cost-effectively
Shirley Ybarra
September 13, 2011 - The Most for Our Money: Taxpayer Friendly Solutions for the Nations Transportation Solutions
Shirley Ybarra
May 17, 2011, 10:43am - Taxpayer-Friendly Solutions to America's Transportation Challenges
Seven cost-effective transportation strategies
Samuel Staley, Shirley Ybarra, Erich W. Zimmerman and Nick Donohue
May 16, 2011 - Putting High Speed Rail into Perspective
Shirley Ybarra
March 15, 2011, 10:23pm - Privatization and Public-Private Partnership Trends in State Government
State Government Privatization Chapter of Annual Privatization Report 2010
Leonard Gilroy, Harris Kenny, Shirley Ybarra and Tyler Millhouse
February 18, 2011 - “Orphaned Transportation Earmarks” Part II
Shirley Ybarra
February 2, 2011, 10:52am - It is Time for Public-Private Partnerships in New York
Shirley Ybarra
January 21, 2011, 12:19am - "Orphaned Transportation Earmarks" Total in the Billions
Shirley Ybarra
January 4, 2011, 10:40pm - Virginia Department of Transportation Abandons the Public-Private Partnership Proposals for the Port
Shirley Ybarra
September 17, 2010, 12:00pm - More Environmental “Thumping” This Time Internationally
Shirley Ybarra
September 2, 2010, 12:24am - Government Unlearning How to Build Big Projects
Shirley Ybarra
August 18, 2010, 10:47am - Nighttime Delivery Looks so Obvious
Shirley Ybarra
July 6, 2010, 1:15am - Electric Vehicles Infrastructure but What about the Roads and Bridges?
Shirley Ybarra
July 6, 2010, 12:36am - Infrastructure Investor Southeast: Public-Private Partnerships Alive and Well
Shirley Ybarra
June 12, 2010, 10:57am - What is the Right Question about Electric Cars?
Shirley Ybarra
June 10, 2010, 10:01pm - Report Released on International Experience with Road Pricing Schemes
Shirley Ybarra
June 9, 2010, 11:16am - Reason’s Len Gilroy Appointed to Arizona’s Commission on Privatization and Efficiency
Shirley Ybarra
May 29, 2010, 10:41am - Virginia’s First Report on Streamlining the Public-Private Partnership Process
Shirley Ybarra
May 27, 2010, 10:32am - Tale of Two High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lane Projects in Virginia
Shirley Ybarra
May 10, 2010, 10:31am - Cash For Clunkers: Government Accountability Office Weighs In
Shirley Ybarra
May 4, 2010, 3:45pm - Update on Ports: Looking for Private Partners and a New Perspective
Shirley Ybarra
April 13, 2010, 5:25pm - "The Trouble With Tolls" Gets It Completely Wrong
Shirley Ybarra
April 7, 2010, 2:45pm - Time is Money Particularly on Highway Projects
Shirley Ybarra
March 31, 2010, 11:05pm - NexGen Air Traffic Contol, Will we Ever Move Forward?
Shirley Ybarra
March 24, 2010, 10:43am - Highway Trust Fund Solvent for Another Nine Months
Shirley Ybarra
March 21, 2010, 11:01am - Budget Buster Express: High-Speed Rail, Amtrak or Frustrated Children?
Shirley Ybarra
February 10, 2010, 11:39am - Missouri's Road Director Wins Two Prestigious Awards
Shirley Ybarra
February 1, 2010, 11:44am - “Single Best Investment” (High Speed Rail) ....I Doubt It
Shirley Ybarra
February 1, 2010, 10:15am - Is This the Oversight for Security We Need? 88 is the Same Number as Piano Keys
Shirley Ybarra
January 9, 2010, 10:54pm - Long Term Transportation Funding… ”Let’s Wait” … Best Bet
Shirley Ybarra
January 8, 2010, 11:00am - More on (NOT) Unionizing Airport Security
Shirley Ybarra
January 6, 2010, 10:57am - Public-Private Partnerships Flourish Internationally
Shirley Ybarra
December 16, 2009, 5:41pm - Limping Along on Aviation Funding Authorization
Shirley Ybarra
December 10, 2009, 10:19am - The Role for Public-Private Partnerships in Modernizing and Expanding Nebraska's Transportation System
Platte Institute for Economic Research/Reason Foundation Policy Study
Shirley Ybarra and Leonard Gilroy
December 8, 2009 - Bob Poole (Quoted by Steve Forbes) Has It Right: Airline Deregulation is not to Blame
Shirley Ybarra
November 11, 2009, 11:00am - Airport Security (Lack Thereof) or the Right Methods?
Shirley Ybarra
November 9, 2009, 10:46am - Florida High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes Win 2009 Award
Shirley Ybarra
October 26, 2009, 10:43am - New Zealand's Guidance for Public Private Partnerships
Shirley Ybarra
October 20, 2009, 11:17am - (Preliminary) National Rail Plan from Federal Railroad Administration
Shirley Ybarra
October 20, 2009, 10:15am - Governor Rendell (PA) says "Help Me Kill the Office of Public Benefit"
Shirley Ybarra
October 4, 2009, 12:09am - Telecommuting Can Add to Our Mobility
As telecommuting share grows, so do the benefits
Shirley Ybarra
October 1, 2009 - Transportation Funding at a Standstill, Rescission Looms and Then What?
Shirley Ybarra
September 27, 2009, 12:31pm - The House Passes 3-month Transportation Funding Extension----Action Moves to the Senate
Shirley Ybarra
September 23, 2009, 9:23pm
