The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), essentially the industry association for state DOTs, recently stated that an expected 60% to 100% increase in domestic freight shipments over the next 20 years will wreak havoc on U.S. roads. Trucks do most of the damage to pavement and roadway structures. The only way to address the problem, according to AASHTO director John Horsley, is more rail freight.

"We cannot afford for freight rail to carry any less than its current market share," Horsley said in a recent piece by
columnist Neil Pierce.

An AASHTO-commissioned study on the issue says that if the amount of freight carried by rail remains the same for the next 20 years (14 billion tons annually) the result will be an extra 900 million tons of freight being transported over U.S. roadways. The ensuing economic impact of the burden could cost taxpayers and shippers billions in infrastructure damage, time lost in congestion and additional crashes.

AASHTO calls for public investment in rail freight of at least $4.15 billion per year under whatever "TEA-3" legislation emerges from Washington this year or next. Some of this would come from increases in federal freight related funding like the "borders and corridors" program, and some from increased eligibility for rail freight projects in existing federal funding categories.

Unsurprisingly, the recommendation comes along with the association's call for a broad increase in highway spending. But however the federal fight turns out, state DOTs in this region need to take the AASHTO finding to heart and realize that public action and spending to move freight onto rails directly impacts the performance, condition and safety of the highway networks that they manage. In a 21st Century likely to be characterized by frenetic levels of global trade, rail freight needs to be a core concern of state transportation departments.