In The News
DOT releases freight plan calling for local road funding, ‘accelerated technologies,’ expediting projects
SEATTLE — The Department of Transportation this past weekend introduced a National Freight Strategic Plan that showed a number of challenges in the coming years including 70 million more people in the next 30 years; a 40 percent increase in freight volume by 2040; increasingly larger vessels and more containers at our ports; a tripling of air freight and a doubling of multimodal shipments and volumes of imports/exports.
"Unfortunately," stated the report, "if we stand still, we'll be meeting that set of challenges with a set of bottlenecks and economic choke-points, outdated bridges, over-burdened highways, under-developed ... connections to our ports and backed-up railway crossings."
The plan proposed what it called "a way forward," including state and local government infrastructure investment, "accelerated technologies," expediting of road projects; prioritizing the upgrade of infrastructure and "modernized freight network," identifying areas of weakness and making targeted investments.
The 143-page document was introduced Sunday in Seattle with DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx making the announcement alongside Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and drilled down on governance-related barriers to planning and implementing freight projects; safety and security problems related to the movement of freight; increased global economic competition; application and deployment of new technologies; and underinvestment in the nation's freight system; and addressing three "bottlenecks," infrastructure, institutional and financial.
The Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC) immediately commended the plan.
"U.S. DOT's holistic approach to addressing the needs of our nation's multimodal freight system is commendable and the roadmap for improvement identified in the draft National Freight Strategic Plan complements the GROW America Act's robust investment plan," said CAGTC Executive Director Elaine Nessle. "Our freight network's challenges are many and varied, and I applaud U.S. DOT for anticipating future freight system requirements so that our nation is prepared to meet the growing needs and turn potential gridlock into economic opportunity.
"Anticipating domestic freight movements across all modes will grow by roughly 42 percent by the year 2040, the draft NFSP calls for robust investment across all modes and suggests an emphasis on improving intermodal connectivity to reduce infrastructure bottlenecks. The draft NFSP calls for the identification of key trade gateways and corridors through a multimodal freight network; establishment of such a network is one of several common threads between the U.S. DOT's GROW America Act, the Senate-passed DRIVE Act, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's proposal, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015."
"The call to make freight infrastructure investments is a unifying message. The House of Representatives, Senate and Administration are all proposing creation of a robustly-funded multimodal freight program, the centerpiece of which is a competitive grant program," said CAGTC President Leslie Blakey. "The draft NFSP adds context to this discussion, explaining where our nation's economic opportunities exist. I commend U.S. DOT for organizing a comprehensive plan that guides strategic decision making, ensuring public investment will produce a high return."
The coalition is a diverse group of more than 60 public and private organizations dedicated to increasing federal investment in America's intermodal freight infrastructure. Visit www.tradecorridors.org for more information.
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