Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st Century Act of 2011 Potential Freight Implications

1. Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act of 2011Potential Freight Implications FHWA Talking Freight December 2011 Tony Furst, Director FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations

2. National Freight Program Elements (Sec 1115) • National Freight Network • National Freight Strategic Plan • Freight Performance Management • Freight Conditions and Performance Report

3. National Freight Network Components: • Primary Freight Network (PFN) • Portions of the Interstate System not designated as part of the PFN • Critical Rural Freight Corridors (RFC) Designation • PFN designated by the Secretary and composed of up to 27,000 miles of existing roadways critical to freight movement, plus up to 3,000 miles of roadways (existing or planned) critical to future goods movement; • RFC designated by States (subject to some constraints).

4. Funding Projects on the NFN Eligible Projects • Must demonstrate the improvement made by the project to the efficient movement of freight on the national freight network • Up to 10% can be spent on Freight rail and maritime projects Eligible Location of Projects • On the PNF • On a portion of the Interstate System not designated as PFN • On roads off of the Interstate System or PFN, if that use of funds will provide a more significant improvement or critical freight access to the PFN or Interstate System • On a NHS freight intermodal connector; • On critical rural freight corridors • Within the boundaries of public and private intermodal facilities

5. Enhanced National Highway System (NHS) Components: • Current National Highway System • Additional urban and rural principal arterial routes, and border crossings on those routes • Additional Intermodal Connectors • Defense Strategic Highway Network and Connectors Outstanding Question: • How NHS relates to current National Network

6. National Freight Strategic Plan • Condition and performance • Identification of highway bottlenecks • Forecasts of freight volumes • Identification of major trade gateways and national freight corridors • Assessment of barriers to improved freight transportation performance • Best practices for improving the performance and mitigating impacts • Process for addressing multistate projects and encouraging jurisdictions to collaborate • Strategies to intermodal connectivity

7. Freight Performance Management Performance Measures: • Requires USDOT, within two years of enactment, to establish performance measures for freight movement on the PFN. State Performance Targets: • Established by States within one year after DOT establishment of performance measures. • States that have not established targets by this deadline may not obligate NFP funds. •  Requires State progress toward targets: • States must report biennially to USDOT on progress. • Absent sufficient progress, State must submit to USDOT biennial performance improvement plan.

8. Freight Transportation Conditions and Performance (C&P) Report • Due every 2 years • USDOT prepares a report that describes the conditions and performance of the national freight network in the United States

9. Projects of National and Regional Significance (Sec 1118) • Eligible Applicants – now includes non-State DOTs • Eligible Projects – more explicit for some, less explicit for others • Project Size – total project cost floor lowered to $500m or 30% of State Apportioned Funds • Other Selection Criteria – additional criteria added • Federal Share – decreased PNRS funding to a max of 50% • Fund Characteristics – subject to appropriation, not CA • FFGA – dropped • Other Grant Requirements –vary based on project mode • Performance Reporting – added pre and post measurement

10. FY12-13 Program Funding Levels • Formula • National Freight Program $4.087B • Discretionary • Projects of National & Regional Significance $1B

11. Jason’s Law (Truck Parking) • Establishes Federal-aid eligibility for various projects to address a shortage of long-term commercial motor vehicle (CMV) parking on the NHS. • Requires USDOT to conduct and periodically update a survey and assessment of CMV parking needs and related State capabilities.

12. Special Permits During National Emergencies (Sec 1508) State may issue special permits (up to 120 days) during an emergency to overweight vehicles and loads that can easily be dismantled or divided if— (A) the President has declared a major disaster (B) the permits are issued in accordance with State law (C) vehicles and loads are exclusively delivering relief supplies.

13. Freight Research and Professional Capacity Building National Cooperative Freight Transportation Research Program (NCFRP) • Program continued • Gives Secretary discretion to use a portion of Highway Research and Development funding for NCFRP Freight Professional Capacity Building • Remains as it is currently

14. Freight Data Requires USDOT to: • Develop new tools and improvement of existing tools to support an outcome-oriented, performance-based approach to evaluate proposed freight-related and other transportation projects, including— • methodologies for systematic analysis of benefits and costs; • tools for ensuring that the evaluation of freight-related projects could consider safety, economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and system condition in the project selection process; • other elements to assist in effective transportation planning; • Identify transportation-related model data elements to support a broad range of evaluation methods and techniques • Consider improvements to existing freight flow data collection efforts

15. Freight Program Development Process

16. Freight Program Implementation Processes • NFN Designation – FAF can be used as the starting point • PNRS Project Evaluation – well established USDOT process from TIGER Grants can be used as a base • Strategic Plan, C&P Report, Performance Measures Development - FAF, FPM and current HOFM work will provide important inputs

17. Resources Link to Bill: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=20f89548-8b2e-4498-89f7-c9f4ff22484f