Reconnecting America CEO John Robert Smith will be visiting various cities in Montana to talk about the need for a small town and rural transportation policy. He will be meeting with local elected officials, community groups and planners. Smith will be in Billings on Sept. 21, Bozeman/Belgrade on Sept. 22, Helena on Sept. 23 and Missoula on Sept. 24. The Yellowstone Public Radio in Billings, Montana, offered this: Strategic investments in transportation by local governments can revitalize communities, says the former mayor of Meridian, Mississippi. John Robert Smith is now co-chair of the group Transportation For America. He will be in Montana this week to talk to officials and others about how he transformed a derelict portion of his downtown into a vibrant center for commerce, housing, and the arts. YPR is part of a multi-station public radio reporting project looking at the issue of transportation. Funding for the Transportation Nation project comes from the Rockefeller Foundation.

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