With Infrastructure Week and developing conversations between The White House and Congress in Washington as a backdrop on transportation infrastructure, the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC) applauded today’s introduction of a bill to strengthen our nation’s economic competitiveness through sustained freight infrastructure investment. The National Multimodal and Sustainable Freight Infrastructure Act will create a 1 percent fee on the cost of transporting goods, to be paid by beneficial cargo owners, raising an estimated $8 billion annually.

“As we turn our attention to FAST Act reauthorization and its beneficial freight program, we must be ever mindful that existing grant programs remain oversubscribed. In the combined fiscal years 2017 and 2018, the U.S. Department of Transportation received $12 in unique requests for every $1 available in the INFRA grant program. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have submitted applications to the program, demonstrating freight infrastructure needs across the nation,” said Tim Lovain, CAGTC Chairman and also of Crossroads Strategies. “A dedicated, fully multimodal and multijurisdictional freight program such as Congressman Lowenthal’s proposed legislation merits serious consideration as funding model. This proposal comes at a critical juncture, when Congress and the Administration are seeking to sustain economic competitiveness through infrastructure investment.”
Fees collected would be deposited into a Freight Trust Fund and distributed evenly through a freight formula program administered to state departments of transportation, and freight competitive grant program available to states, regional and local government entities. Both programs are fully multimodal, allowing transportation agencies to invest in their most critical freight needs, regardless of mode.
“Congressman Lowenthal has been a persistent advocate for multimodal freight infrastructure needs and deserves credit for his leadership on this important issue,” stated CAGTC President Leslie Blakey. “Not only is his approach to freight funding thoughtful and sensible, but it is modeled after an approach that has proven to be successful and efficient – the existing air freight tax. Dedicated investment in our nation’s freight system, as The National Multimodal and Sustainable Freight Infrastructure Act proposes, is necessary to maintain the strength of American industry in a very competitive global marketplace.”
Since its formation, CAGTC has supported the development of a multimodal freight-specific grant program that distributes money to meritorious projects on a competitive basis, using economically-driven criteria. A commitment to investment in goods movement and dedicated funding for a freight program is critical for America to ensure a safe, efficient, reliable, multimodal supply chain that will continue to stoke the engine of commerce and support job growth.