Coalition Seeks Federal Funding for Freight

DALLAS - A coalition of shippers and operators of infrastructure assets wants the next multi-year federal surface transportation bill to provide a sustainable funding source for road, rail, and port projects that enhance freight movements.

A strong federal role is essential to maintaining domestic and international commerce, the Freight Stakeholders Coalition said, and that requires ensuring the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund as well as additional non-HTF funding to build robust freight infrastructure.

"We are recommending new and additional funding in the next surface transportation bill that prioritizes freight projects, which optimize and integrate the nation's freight transportation system," said Jean Goodwin, executive vice president of the American Association of Port Authorities and chairwoman of the 18-member freight coalition.

Freight grants should be administered by a new multi-modal freight office within the Transportation Department that would work with state and local officials for quicker project delivery, the group said.

"The next surface transportation bill must recognize the indisputable link between goods movement and economic competitiveness," she said.

Freight coalition members also include the American Trucking Associations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Congress is unlikely to vote on a multi-year transportation funding bill in the remaining days of its 113th session because the urgency was removed when a short-term extension was passed shortly before lawmakers broke for the August recess.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is seeking a vote before the end of the year on a six-year transportation bill that the committee passed in May, but support is lacking.

Hopes are also waning for President Obama's $302 billion Grow America Act transportation funding bill would provide $10 billion of federal grants over four years for freight-related projects.

Federal transportation funding under the current two-year law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, was set to expire at the end of fiscal 2014 but Congress passed a $10.8 billion stop-gap transportation funding measure in late July that continues spending at current levels and extends the Highway Trust Fund's solvency through May 2015. However, it does not address the structural revenue deficit in the fund.

Revenue from federal gasoline and diesel taxes dedicated to the highway fund are almost $20 billion less than annual expenditures from the fund. The stop-gap measure included a short-term fix that transferred almost $10 billion of general revenues into the HTF to make up for the lagging tax revenue over the next few months.

The freight advocates put the HTF's revenue shortfall as number one on the list of problems that Congress must solve.

"It is broadly acknowledged and understood that the current federal revenue sources of funding supporting highway, transit, rail and safety programs are insufficient to meet the nation's current needs and without increases to revenues, this gap will grow exponentially in the future," the coalition said. "It is critical that we resolve the funding challenges.

In addition, the advocates said, there must be a dedicated federal source of funding for projects that directly support freight mobility.

The U.S. transportation system currently moves 52 million tons of goods a day, the Transportation Department said earlier this year, but those shipments are expected increase by 62% over the next 25 years.

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