DOT Office to Focus On Freight Flow

A little-known office in the Department of Transportation, hoping to reduce inefficiency in the freight network, plans to take a higher profile as problems with highway congestion and traffic jams at ports have become more prevalent.

Gary E. Maring, director of the two-year-old Office of Freight Management and operations, said that “freight doesn’t vote” and because of that it has been hard to get funding for government projects to improve freight flow. But policy makers are beginning to see the economic implications of poor coordination among freight transportation modes, and are now starting to pay attention to the problem.

Better coordination is particularly important because of the growth of international trade. In some international freight moves, containers can change hands 62 different times before reaching their destination, Maring said.

The office plans to hold a national freight summit early in 2002 to address ways to ease jammed freight transportation corridors and fund projects to improve coordination among ports, railways, and the trucking industry. The office also is looking at ways to improve efficiency at border crossings through upgraded technology.

Trucks carry about 80% of the value and weight of freight in the United States, Maring said, and projections over the next 20 years are that highway congestion will increase drastically.

For the full story, see the Jan. 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.