Moving the Nation's Goods

Since freight movements often cross several state lines and pass through multiple metropolitan areas, solutions for improved mobility must span jurisdictional, modal, and institutional boundaries. At the same time, the stakeholder organizations that can address mobility concerns are diverse. An initial step toward implementing effective improvements for the movement of freight is to persuade stakeholders to mutually identify and pursue solutions. The Federal Highway Administration's Office of Freight Management and Operations, in partnership with the I-95 Corridor Coalition, convened a roundtable of national experts in 2009 to discuss institutional changes that could improve freight movement. The discussion centered on a white paper, "Multi-State Institutions for Implementing Improved Freight Movement in the U.S." The white paper explores overarching multistate institutional frameworks that could identify and implement ways to improve the efficiency and reliability of the U.S. freight network and determine the impacts of those improvements. The roundtable discussion explored eight types of institutional options and the ability of each to achieve the functions needed to strengthen the performance of multistate freight corridors. The eight options were: interstate compacts; federal agencies; federal corporations; voluntary coalitions; commercial companies; joint services agreements and interlocal cooperation agreements; special districts or authorities; and nonprofit corporations or foundations. After comparing the capabilities of the respective institutional structures, the roundtable reached the following conclusions as to which structure might best serve the goal of improving freight mobility. The roundtable rendered no formal recommendations, but the members believed that interlocal cooperative agreements, commercial companies, special districts, and nonprofits all had too many drawbacks to be effective models for a multistate institution to oversee the improvement of freight movement. Interstate compact organizations, federal agencies and commissions, federal corporations, and voluntary coalitions all had pros and cons, depending on the situation and goals. The roundtable suggested that a better approach in many cases might be to focus on providing the specific capabilities needed -- potentially added to an existing organization -- rather than creating a new institution. The roundtable did achieve consensus on one key point: It is urgent for the Nation to place greater emphasis on improving multistate corridor performance for freight movement in order to keep the United States competitive in the global marketplace.

• Record URL:
  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/12mayjune/06.cfm
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1586080
• Authors:
  • Strocko, Ed
  • Schoener, George
• Publication Date: 2012-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Photos;
• Pagination: pp 42-50
• Serial:
  • Public Roads
  • Volume: 75
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Federal Highway Administration
  • ISSN: 0033-3735
  • Serial URL: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Freight traffic; Freight transportation; Institutional issues; Interstate commerce; Interstate transportation; Meetings; Organizations
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Freight Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01376043
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 20 2012 10:39AM