José Holguín-Veras, the William H. Hart Professor of civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named a runner-up in the Pioneer Institute’s Annual Better Government Competition.

The theme of the contest this year was “Moving People, Moving Goods, Moving Forward.” It focused on ideas and innovations that will prepare the country for what the future of transportation will bring.

More than 140 entries were submitted and Holguín-Veras’ program on freight demand management was one of only four runners-up.

Holguín-Veras, who is also the director of the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment, has been working on approaches known as off-hour deliveries and receiver-led consolidation in an effort to reduce traffic and decrease greenhouse gas emissions that are produced by freight trucks in congested cities.

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded public policy research organization.