T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Posts Tagged "freight"

Updated – Ten things to know about the House transportation bill

The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee debated and approved their multi-year transportation reauthorization proposal last week. Next step is consideration on the House floor and then, if approved, conferenced (merged through negotiations) with the Senate, which passed their multi-year DRIVE Act back in July. Here are ten things you need to know about what’s in (or not in) the House bill which is expected to be considered on the House floor early next week.

Continue Reading →

The Senate’s multi-year transportation bill misses the mark on multimodal freight

Below is an in-depth explanation of one of the 10 things you need to know about the Senate’s DRIVE Act. The Senate’s multi-year transportation bill recognizes that efficient freight movement is important, but the bill prioritizes freight moving on highways over that moving by rail, air, ports and pipelines. The DRIVE Act (HR 22) is unique from […]

Continue Reading →

10 things you need to know about the Senate’s DRIVE Act

Though the Senate finally moved beyond repeated short-term extensions to the nation’s transportation program with a multi-year bill, their DRIVE Act is also major missed opportunity to give cities, towns and local communities of all sizes more control over and access to federal transportation dollars. Here are nine other things that you need to know about the Senate’s bill.

Continue Reading →

Senate’s DRIVE Act Bypasses America’s Cities and Towns

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, DC — Following the Senate’s successful vote to approve the DRIVE Act, a six-year transportation reauthorization bill with three years of funding, the Honorable John Robert Smith, former mayor of Meridian, MS, and the Chairman of Transportation for America, issued the following statement:  “While the Senate is to be commended for […]

Continue Reading →

Over 150 elected officials, DOTs, MPOs, chambers of commerce and others voice strong support for restoring TIGER program

With the the Senate Commerce Committee due to mark up their portion of a long-term transportation bill that will eliminate the competitive TIGER grant program and refocus its funds on a multimodal freight program, more than 150 organizations and elected officials signed a letter urging the committee to restore and authorize the TIGER program.

Continue Reading →

West coast port closures example of the worst case scenario

25 Feb 2015 | Posted by | 0 Comments | , ,

The eight-month labor dispute that left fully loaded container ships anchored off the west coast for weeks caused an “epic” back-up that underscored just how critical the smooth movement of freight is to the nation’s economy.

Continue Reading →

UPS chief and other business leaders urge Congress to pass a bill that helps both commuters and freight

An editorial from the head of one of the world’s most important freight companies — based in the city where we hosted a policy breakfast on the same issue two weeks ago — puts a bright line under the importance of Congress updating our country’s outmoded freight policy in the next federal transportation authorization.

Continue Reading →

What does the FREIGHT Act really mean for our freight and ports?

The new FREIGHT Act introduced by Senators Lautenberg, Murray and Cantwell would create a truly multimodal national freight program for the first time in the U.S. It recognizes that our freight system should move our goods from coast to coast while also being part of the solution for many of our most pressing problems: air quality, dangerous emissions, oil dependence, and congestion on our highways and interstates.

Continue Reading →

Speeding up, cleaning up freight movement in the U.S.

17 Mar 2010 | Posted by | 0 Comments | , , ,

Since Chairman Oberstar introduced the Surface Transportation Authorization Act (STAA) last summer, we’ve increasingly heard that addressing freight congestion is going to be a major component of any national transportation policy. We face a choice in how the nation will step up to meet the coming demand — and how clean those solutions will be. The upcoming reauthorization of the federal transportation bill is a great opportunity to help achieve a smarter, greener freight system. The innovative freight projects highlighted in this week’s “Good Haul” report by the Environmental Defense Fund demonstrates the practical solutions that are economically smart, protect us from harmful air pollution, and provide jobs for American workers.

Continue Reading →

PBS Blueprint America looks at freight, rail, and trucks

PBS continued their excellent Blueprint America series with an episode on NOW last Friday night examining the issue of freight movement in America. Watch it below or over at the terrific Blueprint America site.

Continue Reading →