Your “Everyday Low Prices” Require Just-In-Time” Freight Delivery
If Walmart is to maintain its “Everyday Low Prices,” the goods it imports from abroad and buys from domestic suppliers here at home must be able to get there on time, everyday, at low cost.
If Tysons Foods and Harley Davidson are to keep the prices they charge for their exports to China low enough to stay competitive, the American freight system they depend on must be low-cost, efficient and reliable.
But that system is not keeping up with the demands it is expected to meet. The nation is entering the early stages of a freight transportation capacity crisis. Highways, railroads, ports, waterways, and airports all require investment well beyond current levels to fix freight bottlenecks, improve intermodal connections, eliminate unsafe highway-rail crossings, and fund freight corridor improvements. The prices we pay everyday and millions of American jobs depend on those projects being funded and built.
The United States still has the most fully developed, efficient, and productive transportation system in the world, but it is showing signs of age, over-use, obsolescence, and fragmentation. The question is will the United States increase its investment to the levels necessary to keep its freight system competitive?
AASHTO believes that we must invest in a “national freight system” that ensures that all sectors of the economy, all regions of the country, all states, origins, destinations, all areas—urban and rural—have access and connectivity to national and international markets.
Action Agenda for Freight
AASHTO recommends a six part action agenda to address the country’s freight needs.
1. Jointly Define the National Freight Transportation System and its Needs
Productive investments in freight transportation that benefit the nation require a clear understanding of the demand for freight transportation, the structure and performance of domestic and international supply chains and distribution networks, and the economic and policy environments that shape them. Better information and a more comprehensive understanding of the freight system enables federal, state, and local officials to better assess the benefits, costs, and risks of policies, regulations, and projects.
U.S. DOT, the states, freight shippers, freight carriers and other stakeholders should jointly define the National Freight Transportation System and its needs. Future demands should be assessed and associated infrastructure requirements described.
