It is fair to say it has been a busy few days on the transportation infrastructure front this week.
As noted in the LM online news section, the United States Department of Transportation this week rolled out its 2026 National Freight Strategic Plan, a multi-year roadmap for improving the freight that moves more than 54 million tons of goods worth more than $68 billion each day.
The plan focuses on the country’s nearly 7-million-mile freight network and lays out six goals for the next five years: safety, efficiency, security, resiliency, innovation, and workforce development. DOT says the plan is meant to guide federal freight policy, investment, and partnerships with state and private-sector groups.
The plan calls for reducing freight bottlenecks, improving supply chain visibility, streamlining federal project reviews, and helping states and regions plan more effectively across the transportation network.
And DOT said that the strategy includes support for advanced freight technologies and digital freight data standards, as well as research focused on areas that could have the greatest impact. Workforce priorities include creating stronger paths into freight careers and improving working conditions. The plan also calls for better workforce data to help companies understand hiring needs and labor trends.
This plan serves as a follow-up to the DOT’s 2020 National Freight Strategic Plan (NFSP), which was released during the first Trump administration. Which DOT, at the time, said was a first of its kind and focused on bolstering the nation’s economic competetiveness through long-term investments in infrastructure, the workforce, and other key parts of the national freight system.
Industry stakeholders were largely supportive of the 2020 plan, calling it a serious effort to understand and put a framework in place to better understand freight and put emphasis on programs and data that will allow DOT and the U.S. to make better investment decisions—adding that continuing to highlight the importance of freight will only help to make the U.S. freight system more effective and help U.S. consumers, manufacturers, farmers, etc. compete internationally and continue to have low logistics costs, fast transit times, and many options.
Another transportation infrastructure-related initiative released this week came from the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure with new legislation for a bipartisan five-year surface transportation authorization, investing in the nation’s roads, bridges, transit, rail transportation, and highway and motor carrier safety programs.
Entitled “BUILD America 250 Act—Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act—the House T&I Committee said that this legislation, “emphasizes moving people, goods, and freight safely and efficiently across the country,” adding that it, “provides the largest ever investment in America’s bridges, focuses on proven surface transportation infrastructure programs, provides passenger rail investments and reforms, improves rail safety, ensures that transportation projects and programs are more efficient, encourages innovation, and provides the first ever autonomous commercial motor vehicle framework.”
Some of the key freight-focused initiatives in the BUILD America 250 Act include:
- Nationally significant multimodal freight and highway projects;
- National Highway performance program;
- Bridge programs;
- Railway-highway grade crossings;
- Surface transportation block program;
- National highway freight and high priority corridor program;
- Surface transportation accelerator grant program;
- Surface transportation project delivery program;
- Study on effectiveness of discretionary grant programs and also for formula grant programs;
- Reauthorizing the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act;
- Study on establishment of federal infrastructure bank;
- Consolidation and enforcement of highway safety programs;
- Improvements to motor carrier enforcement training and support grant program;
- Amendments to commercial motor vehicle operators grant program;
- Broker qualifications;
- Cabotage study;
- Predatory commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase agreement programs oversight;
- Extension of apprenticeship pilot program;
- Electronic logging device certification;
- Safety performance history screening and DataQs improvement;
- Drug and alcohol clearinghouse fees;
- Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Reform;
- Commercial motor vehicle workforce development;
- National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot;
- Autonomous vehicle accessibility study;
- National multimodal freight policy, National freight strategic plan, and National multimodal freight network;
- State freight plans and state freight advisory committees;
- Freight logistics optimization works program;
- Advisory committee on cargo theft and freight fraud;
- Authorizing annual funding for the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA’s) safety operations and research programs;
- Consolidated rail infrastructure and safety improvements;
- Mandating that the Secretary require all Class I freight railroad carriers to install inward- and outward-facing cameras in controlling locomotive cabs within two years of issuing new regulations; and
- Establishing a Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C³RS) and requires the participation of all Class I freight railroads
The Washington, D.C.-based Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC) issued a statement on the BUILD America 250 Act.
“The Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors thanks Chairman Sam Graves, Ranking Member Rick Larsen, and members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their bipartisan efforts to develop a five-year surface transportation authorization proposal,” said CAGTC Executive Director Elaine Nessle. “While the bill makes important progress in several areas—including identifying the first new revenue contribution to the Highway Trust Fund in 30 years—it fails in its commitment to freight infrastructure investment. For decades, the nation’s freight assets were overlooked in federal surface transportation programs. The progress achieved through the last two infrastructure laws to prioritize investment in supply chain infrastructure would be significantly weakened under this proposal.
Dedicated federal freight investment is essential. Programs such as the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects Program (INFRA), National Infrastructure Project Assistance Program (Mega), Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program, and Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) strengthen the infrastructure that connects communities to commerce, supports economic growth, and enhances America’s global competitiveness. Further, INFRA must continue to receive dependable and long-term funding from the Highway Trust Fund as it has since its creation over a decade ago. We urge Congress to build on the momentum of recent years and continue making these critical investments in the next surface transportation reauthorization law.”
American Trucking Associations President & CEO Chris Spear praised the legislation, calling it visionary.
“Since last January, ATA has testified multiple times on Capitol Hill and met with key lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to lay the groundwork for the surface transportation bill. We are pleased to see that many of the trucking industry’s priorities have been included in the base text. The highway bill has always been a bipartisan product, and it is encouraging to see Republicans and Democrats coming together prior to the September 30th deadline to expand truck parking, enforce safety rules, and take additional steps that will strengthen our industry. ATA is committed to being a constructive partner throughout the legislative process and will continue to work with Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen to build a 21st century supply chain that can meet our economy’s needs over the long term.”
While often under-looked at times, the need for sound freight policy is imperative, regardless of one’s political affiliation. As former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood once told Newsroom Notes there is no such thing as a Republican Road or Democratic bridge. In other words, we are all in this together, especially when it comes to safety on our roads and railways, as well as moving freight safely, effectively, and efficiently.
