Freight Capacity for the 21st Century Special Report 271 (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 143-151
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From page 143... ...
Port access has been a focus of discussions of needs for freight transportation policy reform because of the multimodal nature of the problem, the national economic signifi cance of the major ports, and the complexities of infrastructure devel opment in large cities. The committee identified sources of access problems, which it clas sified into four groups: road and infrastructure congestion; land prices and land use restrictions near ports; environmental regulations; and var ious institutional frictions, including divergence of goals among different units of government and ineffective communication among governments and with the private sector.
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From page 144... ...
· The federal government's role should be to provide incentives to state and local governments to ensure that interstate and international commerce and military requirements are adequately considered when transportation funding priorities are set. In 1998, TRB's Committee for Study of Policy Options to Address Intermodal Freight Transportation, in a study funded by FHWA and the Federal Railroad Administration, continued the review of intermodal freight transportation policy begun in the 1993 study (TRB 1998)
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From page 145... ...
. The committee's key recommendation was that federal and state government agencies that operate highway and water transportation facilities should "routinely consider the effects of the structure of road and waterway user fees on freight transportation efficiency and consumer welfare and search for user fee schedules that improve economic efficiency" whenever they consider alternative fee schedules and capacity expansion investments (TRB 1996, 126)
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From page 146... ...
The recommendations most relevant to long-run freight capacity are the following (NCIT 1994) : · Federal policy should foster development of the private-sector freight intermodal system and reduce barriers to freight flow, especially at ports and border crossings.
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From page 147... ...
The truck ing industry opposed diversion of highway funds, and the railroads were wary of greater government involvement in their industry. The 1998 report of the TRB Committee for Study of Policy Options to Address Intermodal Freight Transportation, summarized above, expressed skep ticism, noting that increased flexibility could promote uneconomic interstate rivalries in development of freight facilities and encourage private-sector transportation companies to demand more government funding for their infrastructure projects.
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From page 148... ...
Policy proposals that would affect freight capacity include the following: · Eliminating the restraints on competition contained in inter national aviation treaties and in the restrictions of the Jones Act on domestic waterborne freight. · Implementing user fees better aligned with costs, including elec tronically assessed and collected tolls on congested highways, truck infrastructure charges based on mileage and weight, and airport takeoff and landing fees that include a congestion toll.
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From page 149... ...
. Although institutions differ greatly, the underlying challenges facing freight transportation development are similar in most of the developed economies: the industry is a mixed publicprivate enterprise that has been experiencing a period of growth and changing demand character istics, including expansion of international trade and containerization.
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From page 150... ...
· Port operators will be encouraged to increase capacity by improv ing efficiency of operations rather than by physical expansion, to avoid environmental degradation. · Grants will be provided to promote use of domestic coastal ship ping and inland waterways.
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From page 151... ...
1996. Special Report 246: Paying Our Way: Estimating Marginal Social Costs of Freight Transportation.
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