The branches of 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) are extensive. Within the colossal $1.2 trillion package, billions of dollars’ worth of new infrastructure projects were outlined in the legislation.
Of course, having a war chest of this much funding unlocks unprecedented potential to improve the country’s roadways and infrastructure. This very responsibility has largely fallen onto the U.S. Department of Transportation.
However, almost two years have passed since the BIL was implemented and the DOT has yet to execute a crucial component towards coordinating these ambitious projects.
Under the DOT, the Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy was authorized by the BIL to fund, attend, and oversee the development of transportation projects.
After the law was enacted on November 15, 2021, the DOT was expected promptly to start up this office, referred to as the Freight Office for short.
Of course, such a task couldn’t be accomplished overnight, let alone a year, but stakeholders are anxious that the Freight Office hasn’t come to fruition yet as the initial authorization nears its three-year anniversary.
The Freight Office
Congress allotted $7.3 million in the 2024 fiscal year budget for the Freight Office.
As well as disbursing funds from the BIL towards transport projects, the Freight Office is also responsible for facilitating the country’s multimodal freight policy, assisting information flow between public and private sectors, and working alongside city and state officials to optimize freight movement.
Given these duties, the absence of a solid office in place has rightly worried stakeholders, especially project sponsors.
In June, the DOT provided a status update to Congressional committees, according to FreightWaves, however President Biden has yet to appoint an official nominee to head the Freight Office.
The DOT has not revealed any specifics about the ongoing process to get the office up and running. The department labels it as a large undertaking and has hinted at sharing more publicly in the coming months.
A central hub for disbursing funds across department agencies
Over $660 billion was authorized by the BIL for funding of new and existing DOT programs through 2026. This stunning amount reinforces the priority of launching the Freight Office.
The hopefully soon-to-be office will serve, in an ideal world, as a central hub for coordinating various freight policies and grant programs overseen by the DOT’s swath of federal agencies, like the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and U.S. Maritime Administration.
This means its dynamic extends across all transportation sectors—rail, ocean, trucking, and air. The Freight Office essentially will act as a grant bouncer—getting necessary funding across DOT modal agencies into the right door.
Until the office is rolled out, these agencies typically handle coordinating and disbursing funding within their respective sectors. For example, the FRA awarded $570 million of BIL funding to a railroad crossing grant program, last month.
Many stakeholders see a greater authority which oversees all agencies as a win. An overarching entity, like the Freight Office, can look across all modes and see the bigger picture of overall freight movement in the U.S.
From there, this enables the office to move funding more efficiently to the appropriate recipients.
With the BIL’s historic amount of project funding circulating in the DOT, the Freight Office is far from a frivolous layer of added bureaucracy. The office’s role as a central distributor fulfills the department’s inevitable need to organize after receiving billions in cash flow for a multitude of transportation projects.
Final Thoughts
While admittedly anxious at how long the process is taking, project sponsors are optimistic the DOT is committed to assembling an effective Freight Office.
A “Rome wasn’t built overnight” attitude is reasonable considering just how vast and crucial the office’s responsibilities are. Stakeholders certainly don’t desire a rushed-out version that ends up costing inefficiencies in the long run.
As mentioned previously above, the DOT suggested there would be a public announcement regarding the status of the Freight Office in the coming months. As of now, the department has not announced a specific date on when that would be.
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