AASHTO Journal - AASHTO Comments on USDOT’s National Freight Plan

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recently sent a letter to Sean Duffy, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, regarding the agency’s broad National Multimodal Freight Network or NMFN plan, released in the last days of the Biden administration.

[Above photo by AASHTO]

AASHTO originally provided feedback to USDOT in June 2024 on the NMFN plan as part of the agency’s “request for information” or RFI from stakeholders on how to set up such a broad reaching freight strategy. The organization also stressed that, “at this stage of the process,” state departments of transportation will provide specific comments regarding the designations issued in the draft NMFN map for their states, including any modal-specific issues.

“We believe that they [state DOTs] are best positioned to address the specific transportation needs in their jurisdictions” regarding the NMFN plan, AASHTO said in its letter. “Our members also look forward to the State Input Process to assist USDOT in making further important NMFN designations for highways, rail, airports, and for ports and inland waterways.”

That said, AASHTO reemphasized several critical points in its most recent comments to USDOT.

“Our supply chains have been tested significantly in recent years and we strongly advise that the completion of this framework will serve as a vital tool for improving freight transportation infrastructure,” the organization noted.

“The finalized NMFN map will provide a clear national picture of how goods move through our country and will help achieve the stated goals of our national multimodal freight policy: to improve our national freight infrastructure to generate economic benefits; provide a safe, secure, efficient, and responsive freight transportation network; promote innovation; and provide overall improvements to the supply chain for global competitiveness, among other benefits,” AASHTO added.

AASHTO also stressed that the need for intermodal connections is “critical” when it comes to national freight movements, especially in terms of accessing major industrial areas, agriculture, natural resources; key freight facilities; and addressing freight chokepoints.

“We also thank USDOT for including more than 86.6 percent of the National Highway Freight Network in the NMFN through a combination of the Federal Highway Administration’s Primary Highway Freight System and the Interstate Highway System,” the organization said. “The result in expanding the NMFN highway designations by an approximate 28 percent in this edition of the NMFN over the 2016 Interim NFMN is a helpful first step to address freight transportation routes.”