Secretary Mineta Speaks at National Industrial Transportation League
REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION LEAGUE
ARLINGTON, VA
March 22, 2004
U.S. Department of Transportation
Copyright 2004
Thank you, Tom Pellington, Chairman of the National Industrial Transportation League, for that kind introduction, and to all of you for that very warm welcome.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to address you again today. I am here because of you – because a vital and vibrant freight transportation industry is absolutely essential to President Bush’s efforts to revitalize our economy and expand jobs and opportunities for the people of this great Nation.
Most of you recognized the early signals of the economic recovery when freight volumes started to pick up. We believe that this is a potentially powerful economic indicator – a leading indicator of future growth for the economy. So at the beginning of this month, the Department of Transportation introduced a new economic index – the Transportation Services Index (TSI) – which uses freight and passenger volumes to measure the transportation sector and the strength of the economy.
If you look at the historical data, it shows the TSI debuted at a record high, following four consecutive months of increases. This is encouraging news. What we saw while developing the index is that every time the TSI heats up, the economy follows.
The index shows just how much keeping the economy moving is about keeping America moving. That is why we have been looking at our national transportation system with fresh eyes – working to transform our programs in ways that will help you to serve our national economy far more effectively than ever before. We want to give states more resources and more flexibility to tackle their highway and transit needs to enhance mobility; to address the needs of our marine transportation system in a more comprehensive way; and to eliminate bottlenecks at critical intersections of our national freight system.
The U.S. transportation system annually carries more than 16.3 billion tons of freight – valued at over $12 trillion. And, as the economy takes off, we project freight volume will increase by more than 50 percent in the next 20 years.
We have seen how increases in freight volumes can strain the transportation network. So we are preparing now – to add capacity and to keep the economy moving. Critical first steps of our Freight Action Plan can be found in the surface transportation proposal that the President submitted to the Congress last May – entitled the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, or SAFETEA.
Passage of this bill is long overdue. We are currently operating under our second temporary extension. The lack of authorization frustrates planning and slows construction, with impacts that are felt across the economy. So the Administration will continue to press the Congress to craft a fiscally responsible, six-year plan along the lines of the President’s proposal.
At a record $256 billion – a 21 percent increase over the last surface transportation act, TEA-21 – SAFETEA strikes the appropriate balance between the need for a substantial Federal infrastructure investment and the need to maintain fiscal discipline.
Those of you familiar with our legislation will appreciate the unprecedented emphasis that SAFETEA places on freight and goods movement. SAFETEA builds on an important idea that I introduced in the landmark ISTEA legislation in 1991– and that was, intermodalism. ISTEA, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, began to focus on the need for seamless connections between the various transportation modes.
In SAFETEA, we target investment on the critical “last-mile” road connections from the National Highway System to important intermodal freight facilities. Too often, the connections between trucks and trains and merchant ships are neglected, which causes needless congestion and slows the efficiency of the entire freight system.
We also are encouraging integration of freight planning into state and metropolitan plans, including a requirement in SAFETEA that each state designate a Freight Transportation Coordinator.
If you do business on the West Coast, then you know that the Alameda Corridor is an outstanding example of what can happen when jurisdictions work together – and with the private sector – to develop coordinated plans to keep the economy moving.
We see a similar dynamic developing in the Midwest with the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, or CREATE, which is designed to solve serious bottleneck problems in the country’s largest rail hub.
And the Trans Texas Corridor project envisions an 800-mile, multi-modal corridor across the state, involving innovative efforts to enlist the financing and business acumen of the private sector.
SAFETEA facilitates this type of innovation and will make new financing tools available for intermodal freight projects, including those involving improvements to privately-owned facilities that offer public benefits.
We are also bringing “new thinking” to the maritime transportation system through our SEA 21 initiative.
The United States remains a Maritime Nation – the world’s leading maritime and trading nation. SEA-21 will do for the maritime transportation system what ISTEA did for surface transportation, and will ensure a more competitive and modern maritime transportation system.
One way to improve competition, of course, is to extend confidentiality rights to non-vessel operating common carriers. That is why we have submitted comments to the Federal Maritime Commission, urging them to make that change.
As part of the SEA-21 initiative, the Bush Administration also is taking a serious look at how the largely untapped maritime component of our transportation system can help move commercial goods more effectively and efficiently. Short Sea Shipping, by moving some truck traffic to our coastal and inland waterways, is one major component to help handle the dramatic cargo increase bearing down on our transportation system.
We must add capacity to keep vital shipments moving – to keep the American economy moving and competitive in the global arena. This is true across the system – land, sea, and air.
We have a lot in the works. But we also need your help in providing a tune-up to ensure that the system runs as efficiently as possible.
As you know, we recently implemented new safety rules regarding hours of service for commercial truck drivers. And one issue that keeps coming up is the delay that drivers face in getting their trucks loaded – delays that can last for several hours.
In today’s competitive market, such delays are unacceptable. Successful businesses depend on their ability to distribute products into domestic and international markets rapidly and efficiently. So I am calling on you for help. We need each of you to commit to doing your part to improve freight efficiency, mobility, and productivity nationwide.
We can achieve this goal by developing better ways to coordinate the connections between shippers and carriers. We are looking to you to make sure that goods are ready for shipping from the outset. In some cases, this may mean changes in the way you do business.
So I am urging you to work with the carriers to identify the bottlenecks that cause needless delays and to develop guidelines that will add efficiency, get goods to market even faster, and help all of us move the American economy forward.
Annette Sandberg, our Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator, will talk to you shortly about ideas for more effective collaboration to achieve this goal.
Transportation has never been more important to America’s economic future than it is right now. And working together, we can ensure that our transportation engine runs at peak efficiency and continues drivingto drive the American economy forward.
Thank you for allowing me to share our plans with you today. God bless each and every one of you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/minetasp032204.htm
© 2004 Department of Transportation www.dot.gov
THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION LEAGUE
ARLINGTON, VA
March 22, 2004
U.S. Department of Transportation
Copyright 2004
Thank you, Tom Pellington, Chairman of the National Industrial Transportation League, for that kind introduction, and to all of you for that very warm welcome.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to address you again today. I am here because of you – because a vital and vibrant freight transportation industry is absolutely essential to President Bush’s efforts to revitalize our economy and expand jobs and opportunities for the people of this great Nation.
Most of you recognized the early signals of the economic recovery when freight volumes started to pick up. We believe that this is a potentially powerful economic indicator – a leading indicator of future growth for the economy. So at the beginning of this month, the Department of Transportation introduced a new economic index – the Transportation Services Index (TSI) – which uses freight and passenger volumes to measure the transportation sector and the strength of the economy.
If you look at the historical data, it shows the TSI debuted at a record high, following four consecutive months of increases. This is encouraging news. What we saw while developing the index is that every time the TSI heats up, the economy follows.
The index shows just how much keeping the economy moving is about keeping America moving. That is why we have been looking at our national transportation system with fresh eyes – working to transform our programs in ways that will help you to serve our national economy far more effectively than ever before. We want to give states more resources and more flexibility to tackle their highway and transit needs to enhance mobility; to address the needs of our marine transportation system in a more comprehensive way; and to eliminate bottlenecks at critical intersections of our national freight system.
The U.S. transportation system annually carries more than 16.3 billion tons of freight – valued at over $12 trillion. And, as the economy takes off, we project freight volume will increase by more than 50 percent in the next 20 years.
We have seen how increases in freight volumes can strain the transportation network. So we are preparing now – to add capacity and to keep the economy moving. Critical first steps of our Freight Action Plan can be found in the surface transportation proposal that the President submitted to the Congress last May – entitled the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, or SAFETEA.
Passage of this bill is long overdue. We are currently operating under our second temporary extension. The lack of authorization frustrates planning and slows construction, with impacts that are felt across the economy. So the Administration will continue to press the Congress to craft a fiscally responsible, six-year plan along the lines of the President’s proposal.
At a record $256 billion – a 21 percent increase over the last surface transportation act, TEA-21 – SAFETEA strikes the appropriate balance between the need for a substantial Federal infrastructure investment and the need to maintain fiscal discipline.
Those of you familiar with our legislation will appreciate the unprecedented emphasis that SAFETEA places on freight and goods movement. SAFETEA builds on an important idea that I introduced in the landmark ISTEA legislation in 1991– and that was, intermodalism. ISTEA, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, began to focus on the need for seamless connections between the various transportation modes.
In SAFETEA, we target investment on the critical “last-mile” road connections from the National Highway System to important intermodal freight facilities. Too often, the connections between trucks and trains and merchant ships are neglected, which causes needless congestion and slows the efficiency of the entire freight system.
We also are encouraging integration of freight planning into state and metropolitan plans, including a requirement in SAFETEA that each state designate a Freight Transportation Coordinator.
If you do business on the West Coast, then you know that the Alameda Corridor is an outstanding example of what can happen when jurisdictions work together – and with the private sector – to develop coordinated plans to keep the economy moving.
We see a similar dynamic developing in the Midwest with the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, or CREATE, which is designed to solve serious bottleneck problems in the country’s largest rail hub.
And the Trans Texas Corridor project envisions an 800-mile, multi-modal corridor across the state, involving innovative efforts to enlist the financing and business acumen of the private sector.
SAFETEA facilitates this type of innovation and will make new financing tools available for intermodal freight projects, including those involving improvements to privately-owned facilities that offer public benefits.
We are also bringing “new thinking” to the maritime transportation system through our SEA 21 initiative.
The United States remains a Maritime Nation – the world’s leading maritime and trading nation. SEA-21 will do for the maritime transportation system what ISTEA did for surface transportation, and will ensure a more competitive and modern maritime transportation system.
One way to improve competition, of course, is to extend confidentiality rights to non-vessel operating common carriers. That is why we have submitted comments to the Federal Maritime Commission, urging them to make that change.
As part of the SEA-21 initiative, the Bush Administration also is taking a serious look at how the largely untapped maritime component of our transportation system can help move commercial goods more effectively and efficiently. Short Sea Shipping, by moving some truck traffic to our coastal and inland waterways, is one major component to help handle the dramatic cargo increase bearing down on our transportation system.
We must add capacity to keep vital shipments moving – to keep the American economy moving and competitive in the global arena. This is true across the system – land, sea, and air.
We have a lot in the works. But we also need your help in providing a tune-up to ensure that the system runs as efficiently as possible.
As you know, we recently implemented new safety rules regarding hours of service for commercial truck drivers. And one issue that keeps coming up is the delay that drivers face in getting their trucks loaded – delays that can last for several hours.
In today’s competitive market, such delays are unacceptable. Successful businesses depend on their ability to distribute products into domestic and international markets rapidly and efficiently. So I am calling on you for help. We need each of you to commit to doing your part to improve freight efficiency, mobility, and productivity nationwide.
We can achieve this goal by developing better ways to coordinate the connections between shippers and carriers. We are looking to you to make sure that goods are ready for shipping from the outset. In some cases, this may mean changes in the way you do business.
So I am urging you to work with the carriers to identify the bottlenecks that cause needless delays and to develop guidelines that will add efficiency, get goods to market even faster, and help all of us move the American economy forward.
Annette Sandberg, our Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator, will talk to you shortly about ideas for more effective collaboration to achieve this goal.
Transportation has never been more important to America’s economic future than it is right now. And working together, we can ensure that our transportation engine runs at peak efficiency and continues drivingto drive the American economy forward.
Thank you for allowing me to share our plans with you today. God bless each and every one of you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/minetasp032204.htm
© 2004 Department of Transportation
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Monday, March 22, 2004
<< Home