WASHINGTON — In a Jan. 11 session of the Transportation Research Board, European and American transportation planners admired each other’s freight systems as part of TRB’s 94th annual meeting here.
The several Americans, who worked for government-related transportation agencies, and the one European, a Dutch university professor, agreed that making freight flow more efficiently leads to a more vibrant economy.
While the Americans said there’s a lot to learn from Europe about transportation, Lorant Tavasszy of Delft University of Technology said that in several areas, Europe needs to catch up to the United States.
“The U.S. has bottom-up momentum,” Tavasszy said, referring to states taking an active role in construction and not always waiting for the federal government. In contrast, he said, many European nations wait for European Union money.
Renee Sigel, a division administrator for the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, said a 12-city tour of European transportation facilities left her convinced the EU “has a unifying vision.”
German officials told her that even as Europe’s largest economy, Germany can’t compete in global markets by itself, but that an integrated Europe can do very well.
Two executives represented regional groups that advocate for freight at the session: the I-95 Corridor Coalition and the Mid-America Freight Coalition.
George Schoener of I-95 said he has no power to tax or spend public funds, but his group recommends policies to expedite freight flow from Florida to Maine. The coalition looks beyond the ribbon of highway that is Interstate 95 and also considers rail, air and water transport in the areas that surround the road.
Ernie Perry directs a similar group for the center of the country, the Mid-America Freight Coalition, which includes states from Ohio to Kansas and Minnesota to Kentucky.
The region has strong concentrations of manufacturing and agriculture, and is therefore in great need of transportation infrastructure to get its products to market.
