During an advocacy trip to Washington, D.C. this week, Southern California's Mobility 21 members will meet with Sen. Barbara Boxer and Reps. Ken Calvert, Peter DeFazio, John Duncan, Gary Miller and others to emphasize the importance of infrastructure investment to create much-needed jobs now to jump-start the economy.

Trip participants will be armed with suggestions to maximize existing dollars, expedite project delivery and maintain the United States' global competitiveness, all without major impacts to the federal budget's bottom line, according to the group.

"Transportation investment is the antidote to our nation's economic recovery," said Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) CEO and Mobility 21 Chairman Will Kempton. "Southern California, along with the rest of the nation, is ready to leverage local dollars raised through sales taxes to create jobs, but we can't do it alone. We need a strong federal partner."

Mobility 21 legislative trip attendees include:

* Deborah Barmack, executive director, San Bernardino Associated Governments.

* John Fenton, CEO, Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink).

* Gary Gallegos, executive director, San Diego Associated Governments.

* Paul Granillo, president/CEO, Inland Empire Economic Partnership.

* Will Kempton, CEO, OCTA.

* Darren Kettle, executive director, Ventura County Transportation Commission.

* Tom Margro, CEO, Transportation Corridor Agencies.

* Gary Toebben, president/CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

* Bill Bennett, Southern California area manager, HDR.

* Michelle Boehm, business development lead, CH2M Hill.

* Gene Bougdanos, vice president, HNTB Corp.

* Steve Finnegan, manager, government relations, Automobile Club of Southern California.

* Steve Huff, sr. vice president, transportation / public works, RBF Consulting.

* Chris Lytle, deputy executive officer, Port of Long Beach.

* Michael Turner, government relations, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.