CAGTC Members,
Senator Carper (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, recently introduced a bill that makes changes to the FAST Act’s Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program (INFRA). Prior to its introduction, CAGTC staff worked with Senator Carper’s office to ensure any changes benefit freight’s competitiveness in the program. S. 3587, among other things, proposes to: lift the cap on non-highway projects, making INFRA fully multimodal; and to increase transparency in the evaluation and award decision making process. Introduction of this proposal is a step in the direction of reauthorization. As you’ll recall, the FAST Act expires in 2020 and Congress is beginning to evaluate programs and identify ways in which they can be improved. We look forward to working with CAGTC members on suggesting improvements to important freight programs, such as INFRA. Below please find a statement from CAGTC’s Executive Director, Elaine Nessle, about this bill:
Statement by CAGTC Executive Director Elaine Nessle on
Senator Carper’s Proposal to Improve the
Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program
WASHINGTON, DC (October 15, 2018) – “The Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program (known as INFRA) designed in the FAST Act represents a significant and focused national contribution to addressing freight infrastructure needs. We thank Senator Carper for his continued dedication to the program and for seeking reforms that will improve its effectiveness. CAGTC supports his call to remove the cap on non-highway freight investments as well as his commitment to increasing transparency in the evaluation and award decision making process.
Freight does not move on highways alone: the multimodal freight network directly supports 44 million U.S. jobs and the indirect benefits extend to every corner of our national economy. However, non-highway projects can compete for just 11 percent of total INFRA program funding currently. Increasing the program’s flexibility by making investments in the best freight projects -- regardless of mode -- will allow projects with the largest benefit to the goods movement network to be successful. Beyond increasing the flexibility of the INFRA program, overall funding levels must be increased to address growing demands on goods movement infrastructure.
The INFRA program is an invaluable tool for freight infrastructure investment. To continue building confidence in the program, it is essential that USDOT disclose more information about its decision-making process both to Congress and the public to produce a program that targets resources effectively and to affirm the integrity of the evaluation process. Moreover, increased transparency will go far in ensuring the program solicitation attracts applications of the highest caliber.
We applaud Senator Carper for his ongoing dedication to supporting and improving our national multimodal freight system.”
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