On the heels of the first congressional hearings on TEA-21 reauthorization, the Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors called on Congress to increase intermodal freight investment in the next surface transportation bill. In a recent briefing for members of Congress and their staffs, the coalition highlighted the fact that demand for federal financial support for freight infrastructure over recent years has far outstripped available dollars by a factor of 15 every year.
A minimum of $2 billion per year is required immediately to support designated programs for freight technology and infrastructure, such as intermodal connectors. Federal Highway Administration records show a large unmet demand for funding and a growing backlog of ready projects.
“We have become a trading nation. We're receiving goods and exporting goods, yet we haven't kept up with the intermodal transportation needs. To be competitive, we have to improve that,” said House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman Don Young.
According to Jim Oberstar, ranking Democratic member of the T&I Committee, “Projected domestic freight activity and border corridor needs are a threshold. Every projection of future transportation activity we've ever made has fallen short of actual performance. Usage of our transportation system — be it aviation, highway, rail, and water — has consistently outpaced population growth and rate of growth of the economy.”
Rapid economic growth over the past 10 years, improvements in manufacturing, and new technology are placing greater strain on the capacity of United States trade corridors and gateways. Import/export freight movements, whether by truck, rail, ship, or air, are a crucial link in the $7- trillion commodity flow fueling the US economy. Increasingly, these goods travel by multiple modes to reach their destinations.