National Freight Advisory Committee

DEC 9, 2013 UPDATE

National Freight Advisory Committee -NFAC

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12

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Six NFAC Subcommittees Project Delivery & Operations

Research, Innovation, and Technology

International Freight Strategies and Operations

Safety and Environment

First & Last Mile

International

USDOT Freight Policy Council – Members Deputy Secretary

Under Secretary and two Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Transportation Policy

Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs

Deputy Administer FAA

Deputy Administer FHWA

Administrator FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator)

Deputy Administrator FRA

Deputy Administrator MARAD

Acting General Counsel, CFO & Assistant Secretary for Budget & Programs

Deputy Administrator for Research & Innovation

Deputy Administrator PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration)

Deputy Administrator SLS (??)

US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Six month committee findings Improving the Nations Freight Transportation

System – findings of Special panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation.

Bipartisan agreement Freight corridors & intermodal connectors First & Last mile New Revenue needed

Dec – Feb Meetings

Dec 6 – Canadian Freight Investments and the impact on US Ports – Tay Yoshitani

Texas Transportation Institute –Border Challenges and Impacts – Juan Villa FHWA Gateways and Corridor Concepts - Travis Black, FHWA Office of Planning  Dec 20 – Strategies to improve Intermodal

IANA , CSX Baltimore, Soy Transportation Adoption of SWOT (Successes, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats)

 

Jan 3 - Multistate Projects How to encourage collaboration Lessons learned from successful & less than successful projects

 

Dec – Feb Meetings

Jan 9 – Possible second shutdown.

Jan 9-10 – Face to Face meeting – Chicago

Create and Joliet BNSF Intermodal Facility

Draft Recommendations for Feb NFAC Meeting

(First & Last Mile committee may join)

 

Next Full NFAC Meeting February – (Unless we have another shutdown)

Timeline for Recommendations: May 2014

Implementation after Recommendations - (What & How)

Washington Freight Advisory Committee – WFACWork done thus far Advise the Washington State Freight Plan, The Washington Transportation

Plan & develop a resource manual for policy makers at the state and federal level.

Committee discussions have focused on freight trends and policy deficiencies at the State and Federal level that negatively impact freight movement. Members perspectives created the foundation of report

Key at-grade rail crossings have been identified – we are still trying to develop a phased priority list.

International border issues have been discussed and included

Work completed thus far Agriculture, manufacturing/assembly have brought their issues

forward

Tribal and retail/wholesale freight movements were discussed last meeting and the committee needs to review the summary in our draft

Today’s meeting will focus on Sea Ports, Airports, and River Commerce

We have received the unreviewed data of potential freight projects for our inventory from WSDOT, local governments and port stakeholders. We are working with modal stakeholders to determine priorities and identify potential missing links.

Once we have the list vetted and revised we will bring the draft list to the committee

At a future meeting we will develop a final inventory of our state and local freight projects to be included in the State Freight Plan

Why the inventory is important

Planning: Under the Federal-aid program, FHWA does not select or prioritize projects. All projects, including those that are freight-focused and freight-related, must originate in the State and MPO’s planning process.

We have received 140 local project submissions

24-26 in Easter Washington

78 are from PSRC -- @ 30 from Seattle

Some duplicates exist, vetting will help determine freight value

WSDOT is drilling down to specific projects vs milepost to milepost designations

Future Meeting(s)

What elements haven’t we included?

Environmental Perspective to be solicited and discussed

Final inventory recommendation for this initial round

Final report recommendation vote