Perhaps the elephant in the room when we think about the nationwide trucking industry is the overall condition of the infrastructure of our national transportation network, not just for today and tomorrow but especially over the years to come. The dependable ground transportation of freight both locally and via interstate trucking is at the heart of our economy's success and how we tackle the challenges this year and over the next few decades will help shape the success and reliability of the industry and in turn our economy.
The importance of expedited freight delivery for machinery, supllies and parts to plants and factories cannot be overstated and a long-term plan to help reduce traffic bottlenecks is truly critical to commerce. With a growing population coupled with aging roads, bridges and highways the pressure on our transport network never relents. With all of that said there was a very interesting statement made today by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx who announced that the details of an Obama administration six-year, $478 billion legislative proposal designed to boost capacity along highways and roadways to reduce freight congestion will be revealed within a few weeks.
image source: http://www.jdeckman.com/
Avoiding the need to make this idea and the funding strategies supporting it a policital topic, I think it's extremely important to instead view it as a matter of national interest when it comes to our economic flexibility and competitiveness. At present Federal funding for any projects under the umbrella of transportation is set to expire in May. As a result the next few months will ideally see either these measures adopted or a counter proposal accepted by lawmakers prior to the budget deadline passing.
It goes without saying that the source of funding may be likely to generate bigger headlines than the amount of funds needed but I sincerely hope that the political football isn't `the point that people focus on when the dust settles, but instead are able to place proper emphasis on the ability to unite and make a far reaching decision that works best for the country and the economy. To delay doing so would be negligent in terms of our economy and the previous remedy of moving money from the general fund to the transporation budget does little to address the infrastructure issues that we face as an industry and as a country.
