Between Two Shovels
The transportation podcast where infrastructure leaders explain what it really takes to build America’s roads, systems, and corridors.
Episodes
Hours of Content
Industry guests
Cost, schedule, risk, delivery
Every conversation gets specific. Mitigation rates per acre. Lead times on traffic poles. What COVID actually did to bid pricing. Numbers and trade-offs, not talking points.
Senior operators in the room
DOT chief engineers. Trucking association CEOs. Land planners. Lobbyists. Supply chain advisors. Each conversation pulls in a different vantage point on how American infrastructure gets built, from the bid sheet to the ballot box.
Made on a working corridor
Most infrastructure podcasts are produced by observers. Between Two Shovels comes from the partnership actively delivering a 34-mile regional expressway, so every guest list, every question, and every topic is shaped by people who have signed for the work themselves.
James Corless has spent nine years as Executive Director of SACOG, the regional planning agency for the greater six-county Sacramento area. Before that he was in Washington D.C. fighting to keep federal infrastructure funding alive through the Tea Party era.In this episode of Between Two Shovels, Derek Minnema sits down with James for a wide-ranging conversation about what regional planning actually takes. How MPOs work and why they were created. What it took to build consensus across 28 cities and counties. How Green Means Go went from a $100 million regional idea to a $600 million statewide program. What the upcoming federal transportation reauthorization means for Sacramento. And why James believes midsize regions like Sacramento are about to carry the next 50 years in America.
0:00 What Is a Metropolitan Planning Organization? How MPOs Coordinate Regional Transportation
3:32 The Fear That Got Infrastructure Into the State of the Union
5:20 How 70,000 Deficient Bridges Shaped America's Infrastructure Funding Debate
12:00 Inside SACOG's Sacramento Blueprint: Infrastructure, Housing & Regional Growth Challenges
18:00 How Regional Planning Builds Consensus Across 28 Cities and Counties Through Listening
28:00 Sacramento Housing Crisis: Green Means Go, Infill Development & Infrastructure Funding
55:00 Sacramento Region on the Rise: Midsize Cities, Housing & Transportation Future
Conversations with the people building, funding, and planning American infrastructure.
A partial roster of the leaders, contractors, engineers, and operators who have sat down with the show to share what works, what doesn't, and what the numbers actually look like.
James Corless
Nancy Miller
Dave Bauer
Eric Sauer & Chris Shimoda
John Hovde & Josh Nichols
Will Kempton
Mike Sturino
The podcast is produced by the people delivering the corridor.
Between Two Shovels is a project of the Capital SouthEast Connector Joint Powers Authority, a partnership of Sacramento County, El Dorado County, Elk Grove, Folsom, and Rancho Cordova delivering a 34-mile regional expressway from Interstate 5 in Elk Grove to Highway 50 in El Dorado Hills.
The JPA was formed in 2006 with 75% voter approval. Since then, the partnership has cleared more than 20 miles through NEPA, secured 50-year regulatory permits, won a $25 million USDOT RAISE grant, and delivered 11 miles of completed expressway. The podcast exists because the lessons learned along the way deserve a wider audience than a board meeting.
Mile Expressway
Miles Completed
Member Jurisdictions
Constructed Improvements
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Have a story the industry should hear?
Between Two Shovels features leaders and operators shaping the future of infrastructure. Whether you've delivered a project, fought for funding, or learned the hard way what doesn't work, we'd like to talk. Pitch yourself, a colleague, or a topic you wish more people understood.
"The best conversations come from operators who've made calls they couldn't take back."