Ok, so I haven't written in quite some time. I can blame the holidays. Ah yes, the holidays: when Americans ramp up their consumption to massive rates. "Black Friday" is called black Friday for a reason. So how do all of those toys, ipods, Starbucks mugs and baby Gap outfits get from their port of origin (likely China but could be South America, Mexico or Taiwan) to a spot on the shelf for your eyes to feast upon. It's a long journey for the items we consume. Many make multiple trips across oceans - yes multiple.Do people ever stop to think about how these items really make it into our hands? I admit, I never used to. But now when I get frustrated at a truck in my neighborhood, I remind myself that he is serving us and our economy. Of course, American spending has been down in recent years, but we still consume more goods per capita that any other country.
I recently attended the TRB Annual Meeting in DC. For anyone now familiar with this conference, let me just say it is the single largest collection of transportation professionals, researchers and policy makers all together in DC for nearly one week. I'm talking everything from pavement analysis geeks to bicycle safety designers and of course, freight professionals. As always, the conference was packed with interesting sessions from morning till late evening, lots of good discussions about current trends, issues and policies and naturally, what the future holds with the upcoming transportation authorization. I am always humbled to be in a room with most of these folks. And I always come home excited and charged to do more for freight and transportation.
Now if the Obama administration would just do one major thing, I am confident that many jobs and many changes to our infrastructure and transportation system would ensue - pass the renewal of the transportation authorization bill that is a major source of funding for transportation projects. More importantly, this bill sets the tone for policies, design and emphasis for all transportation projects. This has a major impact on Americans. ISTEA, passed in 1991, was the first of these such bills and really for the first time in the US, emphasized non-motorized transportation (e.g. bicycling, walking, etc) and set a tone for bills that have followed. ISTEA arguably led to more focus on safety, energy usage, transit improvements and enhancements, context sensitive design and preservation.
Most in the transportation field are anxiously awaiting the passage of the next transportation authorization. Until then, most cities, states and MPOs must make do with the limited funds they have and just keep things operating. Hopefully, with a significant focus on freight transportation, the new bill with bring needed changes to freight infrastructure, new policies and new freight jobs.
