Waidelich (at right) said the MAP-21 FHWA rulemaking effort he is most involved with – the National Highway Performance Program – should be issued by August this year.
The FHWA rulemaking effort that will impact the trucking industry most directly – the Freight Movement Performance Program – should also be issued soon; work that is being accompanied by a series of “freight roundtables” held by the agency across the U.S., Waidelich said.
“We launched this effort earlier this month,” he noted. “We’ve held three so far in Miami, Atlanta, and Tucson (AZ) and 20 more are coming. They are designed to bring government and shipping companies together to help form national freight strategies.”
Waidelich added that those “strategies” will include ways to stress to the general public the connection between freight and jobs.
“It’s not just the jobs created by [transportation] infrastructure construction; it’s also the jobs created by the freight economy,” he said.
“Because we’re at a decision point now: Are we going to build a transportation system for the 21st century? Or are we going to punt?”