Overarching Issues for Improving Freight Transportation and Implications for Policy

This monograph began with a focus on identifying the key issues in improving the capacity of the U.S. national and international freight-transportation systems. Most projections indicated that capacities of ports, highways, and the railroads were nearing their limits in key urban areas and corridors and would soon be constraining factors for goods movement, consequently impeding U.S. economic growth. Although the current severe economic contraction has slowed growth projections and made capacity concerns less immediate, even the revised growth continues to imply large future demands for freight transportation.¹ Furthermore, enhancement of the nation’s transportation infratructure has been increasingly promoted as an