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Growing freight demands reaching crisis, AASHTO study says

DES MOINES, Iowa — In 10 years, an additional 1.8 million trucks will be on the road; in 20 years, for every two trucks today, another one will be added. Already bottlenecks on major highways used by truckers every day are adding millions of dollars to the cost of food, goods, and manufacturing equipment for American consumers. As a result, according to a new report released Thursday, the transportation system that supports the movement of freight across America is facing a crisis.

At joint news conferences in Des Moines, Iowa; Memphis, Tenn.; and Harrisburg, Pa., the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on Thursday released Unlocking Freight, an analysis of America’s freight system that finds our highways, railroads, ports, waterways, and airports require investments well beyond current levels to maintain — much less improve — their performance.

The report identifies key projects in 30 states that would improve freight delivery and dependability, and offers a three-point plan to address what is needed to relieve freight congestion, generate jobs and improve productivity.

“The simple fact is: no transportation, no economy. They are inseparable,” AASHTO President and Mississippi DOT Executive Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown said. “We must invest to maintain and strengthen the American ‘transconomy.’”

Despite more long-distance freight being moved by intermodal rail, the report finds that trucks will still carry 74 percent of the load. On average, 10,500 trucks a day travel some segments of the Interstate Highway System today. By 2035, this will increase to 22,700 commercial trucks for these portions of the Interstate, with the most heavily used segments seeing upwards of 50,000 trucks a day.

Yet between 1980 and 2006, traffic on the Interstate Highway System increased by 150 percent while Interstate capacity increased by only 15 percent. The report identifies the 1,000 miles of most heavily traveled highways used by trucks.

“It’s unfortunate that many of the 35 million travelers who hit the road for the Fourth of July holiday this past weekend spent hours of their vacation time stuck in traffic,” said John Horsley AASHTO’s executive director. “Ten thousand commercial trucks face that kind of gridlock everyday.”

In a related news conference releasing the report in Pennsylvania, Gov. Edward Rendell spoke at the Norfolk Southern Intermodal Facility in Harrisburg.

“This report outlines what’s at stake if we fail to invest to meet the growing demands on our transportation infrastructure,” Rendell said. “This includes the roads, rails, and seaports we need to move raw materials and goods to market and keep our economy globally competitive.”

Pennsylvania gets “more than our share of truck traffic,” Rendell noted.

“In fact, Pennsylvania is one of six states — along with Arkansas, California, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas — that collectively account for 88 percent of the most heavily used truck routes,” he said.

Mississippi Valley Conference of State Highway and Transportation Officials (MVC) President and Iowa Department of Transportation Director Nancy Richardson said at the Iowa news conference that her state’s agricultural and manufacturing supply chain is crucial to the economic recovery, stability, and growth of Iowa and the nation.

States “need greater investment and sound federal transportation polices to allow them to expand capacity when and where necessary,” she said.

In Memphis, Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Gerald Nicely hosted a news conference along with Dan Flowers, the head of the Arkansas DOT, and other state and local officials, industry, and businesses.

“To accommodate this predicted growth in freight movement, we need to think nationally, regionally, and on a multi-modal level. Central to this effort should be the creation of a National Multimodal Freight Plan to ensure that transportation investments are coordinated and made where most needed,” Nicely said. “By linking trucks, rail, waterway transport, and aviation, freight can be moved more efficiently throughout the nation.”

Each year, 147 million tons of freight pass through Tennessee by way of trucks, rail cars and barges. Nearly half of Tennessee’s Gross Domestic Product comes from the movement of goods and more than half of the statewide employment is in goods-dependent industries. The segment of I-40 through Tennessee and Arkansas alone accounts for nearly one-third of the nation’s busiest truck miles.

A current strain on the movement of freight in the Tri-State region is the lack of vehicular and rail crossings along the Mississippi River, according to Nicely. Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas are currently working to develop a third Mississippi River bridge crossing — dubbed the Southern Gateway Project. Environmental studies on the project are now underway and include consideration of a multi-use bridge that would include both vehicle and rail access.

Unlocking Freight is the second in a series of reports generated by AASHTO to identify the need to increase capacity in our transportation system. For more information and to see state examples of freight capacity needs, click here.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected] .

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