A bill was recently sent to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which could have a profound impact on shippers by mandating they move more of their freight utilizing intermodal transportation services compared to over-the-road highway traffic. The bill is entitled “The National Transportation Objectives Act of 2009″. The bill promotes six policy objectives including:

• Energy Efficiency and Security

• Environmental Security

• Environmental Protection

• Economic Competitiveness

• Safety

• Connectivity and Accessibility

The bill seeks to increase by twenty percent by the year 2030 freight traffic provided by railroad and intermodal services over highway movements. It also mandates a 40% cut in transportation generated CO2 and seeks to triple walking, biking and public transportation use, again by the year 2030. The bill also seeks to reduce by 50% the number of traffic crashes, “zero percent population exposure” to at risk levels of air pollution and a 25% reduction in the average household transportation costs. The bill orders the Department of Transportation to meet its transportation objectives, ensure that current programs are consistent with these goals and align funding to meet these goals.

While this is a very aggressive proposal and one that is truly needed, we do not see how the Federal Government could possibly monitor the success, or for that matter, failure to achieve the desired results. Perhaps Washington is looking to improve the employment picture by adding more jobs and assigning each household a “Transportation Czar” to make sure we triple our walking, biking and use of public transportation. Again, it’s a great idea but we believe it has very little chance of passage in its current form.