FAST forwarding freight infrastructure investment

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., says he wants freight infrastructure to “declare its independence” from the Obama administration’s Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act because it is too closely tied to highway funding for states.    The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which President Obama signed into law on Dec. 5, 2015, may have given the nation its first dedicated federal freight program, but actual funding for freight-specific multimodal infrastructure projects through the legislation remains overshadowed by the omnipresent demands by states for highway funds.
   U.S. House Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., wants to change that.
   “Freight needs to step up and declare its independence,” he told a PORTS Caucus industry briefing on Capitol Hill earlier this month. “It needs to get away from ties to highway funding.”
   The congressman, who has represented Southern California and its vast port community for many years as a Democratic state lawmaker and since 2012 on Capitol Hill, said “the time is now to have our own funding plan” for freight transportation-specific infrastructure, particularly those projects that help to alleviate port congestion.
   Lowenthal, who now co-chairs the PORTS Caucus with Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, first proposed the idea of a dedicated freight transportation infrastructure funding vehicle through his 2014 bill, Economy in Motion (H.R. 1308). He said most of the language in this bill, which called for both competitive and formula-based grant programs strictly for multimodal freight infrastructure that would be paid through a “Freight Trust Fund,” was absorbed into the FAST Act.
   Although still in the early stages of development, Lowenthal’s new bill, Economy in Motion: The National Multimodal and Sustainable Freight Infrastructure Act, will focus on capital freight projects such as roads, rail, intermodal connectors, rail grade separations, on-dock rail, and landside infrastructure on ports and airports.
   The Freight Trust Fund would receive a dedicated stream of funding based on a 1 percent fee on the cost of goods movement within the United States. The shipper paying to move the cargo via ground transport would pay the 1 percent fee based on the total cost of that transportation.
   For example, if it cost $100 to move a shipment by truck from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, then the Freight Trust Fund would receive a $1. This is the same payment model that was used in the existing airfreight tax. Lowenthal estimated that as much as $8 billion a year could be collected in the Freight Trust Fund, which he said would be fully spent down annually.
   Like the FAST Act, for states to qualify for Economy in Motion funding they will be required to establish state freight advisory committees and state freight plans that include broad representation from industry and community stakeholders, as well as consider environmental and community impacts of freight movement.
   In addition, the legislation includes formula and competitive grant program funds to reflect approved state freight plans and the National Freight Strategic Plan.
   Lowenthal hopes to conclude the language of his bill by the start of summer and then present it to his fellow federal lawmakers.
   “We’d like to see infrastructure development move forward,” Lowenthal said. “Right now, we’re a divided nation. Infrastructure unites us.”