WASHINGTON — A bunch of 16 organizations representing the total scope of the freight supply chain are calling on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to get up a long-awaited freight office throughout the U.S. Department of Transportation and designate someone to run it.
The foremost concern of the groups pushing for motion — which include the American Association of Port Authorities, the American Trucking Associations, the Association of American Railroads and various shipper and business lobbyists — is that billions of dollars in infrastructure funding allotted by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) risks being lost without higher coordination and oversight from Washington.
The Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy (Freight Office), which was authorized by IIJA in November 2021, is “designed to coordinate with the business community and states and other freight stakeholders to handle freight challenges, including helping states direct funding to support their economic competitiveness and anticipate challenges to America’s freight networks,” the groups wrote in an Aug. 30 letter to Buttigieg.
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But they indicate an individual designated to guide the office — an assistant secretary for multimodal freight, also required under the IIJA — has yet to be announced, and a proper organizational structure has yet to be developed.
“We discover this concerning as this office guarantees to play an important role in the event of long-term multimodal freight planning, in addition to function a critical coordination point between the Departments of State, Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security and other agencies with jurisdiction over supply chain policy,” they asserted.
“Without the mandatory leadership in place, much of this interagency coordination is going on on an ad hoc basis, impacting the efficiency and decision-making in how these tasks are carried out. For these reasons and more, we urge you to act and designate an acting leader of the [Freight Office], in addition to move forward with officially establishing the office throughout the Department.”
DOT declined to comment on the status of the Freight Office and its leadership when FreightWaves inquired in July, following months of growing frustration and concern by the industry and transportation officials. DOT spokeswoman Kerry Arndt told FreightWaves in April that the department can be providing details “in the approaching months.”
As FreightWaves previously noted, getting the office up and running is especially vital on condition that the IIJA authorized $660 billion in funds for brand spanking new and existing DOT programs for fiscal years 2022 through 2026 — greater than twice the quantity within the previous five-year authorization.
Since IIJA went into effect, DOT has issued several infrastructure funding opportunities and awards from several competitive grant programs. Nonetheless, the applying and permitting process has slowed progress, in keeping with officials contacted by FreightWaves.
In June, the Biden administration put in place a streamlined application process for greater than $5.5 billion earmarked for major infrastructure projects.
The historic level of IIJA funding approved by lawmakers was achieved partly with an economic backdrop of serious supply chain disruptions attributable to the pandemic. While backlogs at U.S. freight gateways have gone away, trends corresponding to shifting trade routes and reshoring and nearshoring are creating latest challenges, the organizations told Buttigieg, which they contend makes it critical that DOT gets the Freight Office up and running.
“With all of the activity and a spotlight around supply chains and logistics, this coordinating role is more vital than ever.”
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