CAGTC Members,
Yesterday, FHWA held a Talking Freight Seminar focusing on the designation process for Critical Urban and Critical Rural Freight Corridors (CUFCs and CRFCs). During the webinar, representatives from the FHWA’s Office of Freight Management of Operations, the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments gave presentations on the designation process and on best practices they discovered. Please find the materials from the webinar here, here, and here and a CAGTC summary of relevant conversation here. Below, please find some key takeaways:
- States and MPOs have the ability to designate their own CUFCs and CRFCs on a rolling basis as a way to reflect last mile freight segments and incorporate state and local knowledge into the National Highway Freight Network;
- 23 states have designated some portion of their CUFC and CRFC miles;
- The presenters emphasized the importance of stakeholder collaboration in the designation process;
- Both WSDOT and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments prioritized designating segments with planned projects on them to ensure they could have access to the freight formula funds; and
- USDOT’s representative on the webinar, Chandra Bondzie from the FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations, could not provide any information about the next INFRA notice of funding opportunity.
Thank you,
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
tradecorridors.org