The first environmental representative on the North Carolina Board of Transportation resigned her position last week.

Nina Szlosberg-Landis, who has served on the board since 2001, helped reshape transportation planning by crafting policies requiring decisions to be filtered through the lens of environmental stewardship so that projects didn't harm North Carolina's natural and cultural assets. North Carolina also is one of only two states to have transportation policies linked to public health initiatives.

"I am proud of the progress the state has made in providing more transportation choices to its citizens," Szlosberg-Landis said in her resignation letter to Gov. Beverly Perdue. "We certainly have a long way to go, and I am hopeful that the progress made in places like Charlotte will help provide evidence that moving these initiatives forward in other communities, like the RTP region, will benefit not only the environment but also the economy of the state."