FHWA NUMBERS SHOW FREIGHT TONS TO GROW BY 40% IN NEXT 3 DECADES

The following is Thursday’s Fast Lane Blog written by Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.
WASHNGTON — The latest freight projections are in from our Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and they show that the number of freight tons moving on America’s transportation network is likely to grow by 40 percent in the next three decades while the value of freight will almost double, increasing by 92 percent. This affirms the projections in our Beyond Traffic study and reinforces the need to boost our freight capacity and unleash the full power of our nation's economy.

The estimates released Thursday are based on the latest BTS/FHWA Freight Analysis Framework (FAF), the most comprehensive publicly available dataset of freight movement. They show that, in 2015, nearly 18.1 billion tons of goods worth about $19.2 trillion moved across America. On a daily basis, that means the US transportation system moves 49 million tons of goods valued at more than $53 billion.
For a freight system that already struggles to meet that level of activity, 40 percent growth poses a significant challenge. Even more eye-opening, today's projections also feature a High Growth path that anticipates nearly 57 percent growth.
Now, these goods aren't just abstract boxes and shipping containers. We're talking about the groceries Americans eat every day, the clothes we wear, the medicines we take, the gas that fuels our cars and trucks. We're also talking about agricultural products and raw materials heading for markets around the world. And we're talking about manufacturing components and finished goods.
Freight is the stuff that helps us live our lives, and it's the commodities and products that drive our economy. It has to move.
That's why we published our Beyond Traffic draft framework last year and jump-started a national conversation about how we're going to meet the challenges of the next 30 years, challenges like the rapidly expanding demand for freight. It's why we pressed so hard to get a long-term transportation bill through Congress last year, an effort that resulted in the FAST Act, which contains several provisions to bolster our freight capacity. It's why we announced last week the availability of $800 million in FASTLANE grants for freight projects.
And it's why President Barack Obama has proposed a budget for fiscal year 2017 that includes $98 billion in transportation investments. The president's proposal provides a net increase of $30 billion over the FAST Act levels to support real advances in safety; repair and replacement of infrastructure; and innovative technologies that can help people and freight move faster, more efficiently, and safer in the future. It's a forward-looking proposal that would set America on a steady course for decades to come.
The tens of millions of tons traveling our roads, rails, rivers, skies, and pipelines demonstrate each and every day that freight moves America. But it can only do that as long as we keep our freight moving.
The Trucker News Services
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2016/3/4/FHWAnumbersshowfreighttonstogrowby40innext3decades.aspx

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