Eno Transportation Weekly

February 14, 2019 – Yesterday, Sen.

January 31, 2019 – Projections for transportation excise tax receipts are up substantially in several areas in the new CBO ten-year baseline projections.

January 17, 2019 – As freight projections show a steep increase in freight movement over the next few decades, stakeholders representing inland waterway transportation said they are well-positioned to handle the growing demand but that the federal government needs to help them invest in the projects that will keep things running smoothly.

December 21, 2018 – The Department of Transportation today solicited applications for fiscal year 2019 grants under what is now called the INFRA surface transportation grant program created by the FAST Act (officially the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects program, but no one can pronounce NSFHP). Applications are due March 4, 2019 for what USDOT anticipates will be between $855-902.5 million in funding.

December 14, 2018 – TRB’s new report on the future of the Interstate Highway System falls short of the bold vision needed to solve the system’s intractable problems.

December 14, 2018 – This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued its biennial report updating a wide menu of revenue increase and spending cut options and the amount by which each of the 121 options would decrease federal deficits over the coming years.

December 7, 2018 – The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has issued a new update of its periodic report, “Critical Issues in Transportation.”

October 25, 2018 – As cities look for solutions to reduce freight-caused congestion and boost turnover at commercial load/unload zones, one possible solution—common carrier locker systems—seems poised to emerge as a tested and proven favorite.

October 22, 2018 – Chinese-backed companies are targeting U.S. freight rail car manufacturing, and their market dominance would threaten America’s economic and national security, according to a report released Monday.

October 18, 2018 – Ports across the country announced volume records this summer as shippers rushed to move goods ahead of the Trump Administration’s proposed tariffs—but what happens when the tariffs come into full effect remains to be seen.

October 17, 2018 – The books are closed on fiscal year 2018 and they reveal that net U.S. Department of Transportation spending (outlays) decreased by $946 million in 2018 versus 2017. But all is not as it seems.

October 4, 2018 – At a public event this morning, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao released her department’s long-awaited “AV 3.0” guidance document, formally called Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0.

September 20, 2018 – Everyone knows that automated technology is revolutionize air and ground transportation. But a recent Senate hearing shed light on new advances in maritime automation as well.

September 14, 2018 – As the Dec. 31 deadline to fully implement positive train control (PTC) or else qualify for an alternative schedule approaches, railroads and regulators are already turning towards challenges that will remain after 2018.

September 5, 2018 – In an effort to address occupational and skills gaps in the freight transportation industry, ports and private entities are teaming up with schools to help bring more young people into transportation and logistics careers.

August 16, 2018 – Five years after labor disputes out West grinded operations at 29 ports to a halt, federal focus on freight transportation seems to be moving toward intermodal connectors and the infrastructure that moves freight out of the port and across the country.

August 1, 2018 – The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved by voice vote today several items including a bill to establish a new port improvement grant program, a bill to criminalize attacks on interstate passenger rail crews, and another nominee for a seat on the Surface Transportation Board.

July 26, 2018 – A House Subcommittee was quick to embrace a new report finding that the Jones Act has had no negative impact on consumer prices in Puerto Rico.

Summary and status of all transportation-related amendments filed to the Senate version of the FY 2019 Transportation Appropriations Act during the week of July 23, 2018.

June 21, 2018 – Members on both sides of the aisle grilled Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Administrator Howard “Skip” Elliott on the administration’s failure to meet its deadlines in implementing congressional mandates at a Thursday hearing of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.