Talking Headways Podcast: More Than Just a Box

This week I’m joined by Matthew Heins, author of The Globalization of American Infrastructure: The Shipping Container and Freight Transportation. Matthew talks about how the American highway and rail systems created a global standard for shipping containers, containerization’s effects on labor and relevance to an automated trucking future, and the massive intermodal freight terminals in cities like Chicago.

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Will the Nation’s First Strategic Freight Plan be Multi-Modal?

By Angie Schmitt |
Congress is joining U.S. DOT in committing more resources to a national freight plan, a more strategic way of moving goods than the current haphazard and fragmented current approach. As mandated by MAP-21, U.S. DOT is working on a strategic plan for a nationwide freight network, and last month, Congress kicked off its contribution, holding […]

GAO: Trucking the Least Efficient Mode of Freight Shipping

By Tanya Snyder |
Freight transportation, which accounts for nearly a quarter of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, doesn’t get as much attention as passenger transportation because most people don’t feel it affects them as much. But more than 15 million trucks deliver 70 percent of the goods this country consumes – and the GAO says that’s a mistake. The Government […]

Freight Rail, Streetcars Are Tops in Stimulus’ TIGER Chase

By Elana Schor |
The Obama administration today announced the winners of $1.5 billion stimulus in highly competitive stimulus grants under the program known as Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER. Southeastern and midwestern freight rail projects were the day’s biggest winners, with urban streetcar projects also making a big splash. Freight rail in Chicago, where the CREATE […]

A Day After Their TIGER Win, Freight Railroads Carve Out More Turf

By Elana Schor |
The freight rail industry yesterday claimed the top three awards in the Obama administration’s competition for $1.5 billion in TIGER stimulus grants, with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood singling out train shippers for an online shout-out: (Chart: AAR) You know, although passengers and commuters have human faces, we need to remember that trade depends upon the […]

Freight Rail Industry Planning Record Investment in 2012

By Angie Schmitt |
An increase in American exports is helping drive a record-level of new investment in freight rail, according to a news release by the Association of American Railroads. The railroad industry is planning a $13 billion investment in the nation’s freight rail network in 2012. That would round out the biggest three-year period of investment in […]

The High Cost of Cheap Roads

By Angie Schmitt |
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, whether you bike, drive, or ride the bus, it’s that American roads are in bad shape. Now the bill is coming due on our poorly maintained infrastructure, and America is coming up short. According to a recent article in Gizmodo, it didn’t have to be this […]