DOT Issues its National Strategy to Reduce Transportation Congestion
On May 16, 2006, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued its "National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America's Transportation Network" which provides a blueprint for federal, state and local officials to follow as it works to tackle this growing problem.
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Over the coming months, DOT states that it will focus its resources, funding, staff, and technology to cut traffic jams, relieve freight bottlenecks, and reduce flight delays.
Six-point plan to reduce congestion. DOT has proposed the following six areas of emphasis which have the potential to both reduce congestion in the short term and build the foundation for successful longer-term congestion-reduction efforts:
- target major freight bottlenecks and expand freight policy outreach
- accelerate major aviation capacity projects and provide a future funding framework
- unleash private sector investment resources
- promote operational and technological improvements
- relieve urban congestion
- establish a "Corridors of the Future" competition
Highlights of DOT's specific plans under these six areas of emphasis include (partial list):
transform its existing Gateway Team in Southern California into a larger Intermodal Hot Spot Team to convene the region's diverse freight stakeholder community to forge consensus on immediate and longer term transportation solutions;
engage shippers from the retail, manufacturing, agricultural and technology sectors, as well as freight carriers and logistics firms, through a series of "CEO Summits," structured around DOT's National Freight Policy Network;
establish a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-DOT border congestion team to prioritize operational and infrastructure improvements at the nation's most congested border crossings;
fast-track major congestion reducing corridor projects that received funding in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU); and
design and deploy the Next Generation Air Transportation System - a modernized aviation system with greater capacity and less congestion.
DOT press release (DOT 57-06, dated 05/16/06) available at www.dot.gov/affairs/dot5706.htm.
National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America's Transportation Network (dated May 2006) available at http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/OST/012988.pdf.