Repairing crumbling Roads

by | Apr 23, 2015 | Transportation | 0 comments

Replacing and repairing crumbling roads, rail, tunnels, and bridges linking seaports to the surface transportation network will cost at least $28.9 billion over the next decade, according to an economic study cited by the American Association of Port Authorities.

The Martin Associates” report says the, ”2014 National Economic Impact of the U.S. Coastal Port System,” was debuted at AAPA’s 2015 Spring Conference in Washington, D.C. The report underscored the need to invest in infrastructure and technology to support global trade.

AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle agreed with the assessment, noting the need for more federal investment to strengthen land connections to U.S. ports. ”On the land-side alone,” Nagle said, ”AAPA’s U.S. member ports have identified at least $28.9 billion in needed investments by 2025. These necessary road, rail, bridge and tunnel improvements are crucial to enable our seaports to efficiently handle their expected cargo volumes, continue providing dramatic economic and job impacts, and enhance American’s international competitiveness.”

In AAPA’s 2015 The State of Freight report, U.S. port authorities were asked to identify infrastructure investments needed at and near their ports to keep freight moving efficiently.

”The nation’s unsurpassed goods movement network needs immediate and significant investment in the arteries that carry freight to and from its seaports” the study said.

In AAPA’s freight transportation infrastructure report, U.S. port leaders indicated the need for immediate and significant investment in the landside arteries that carry freight to and from the nation’s seaports. They asserted that without adequate investment in the connecting

infrastructure with America’s ports, the nation’s economy will suffer, the jobs that ports produce and the international competitiveness they sustain will erode, and American workers, families and employers will experience burdensome and costly hardships.

Nagle said that funding the ”first and final mile” landside connection is vital to the long-term ability of ports to efficiently move cargo and create jobs.

”While ports and their private-sector partners are investing heavily into their facilities as international trade continues to grow, many of these connectors are antiquated, in disrepair, and are creating congestion issues that need to be urgently addressed,” Nagle said.

The ports” land connections total only 1,200 miles of the 57,000-mile national highway system, but 99 percent of U.S. international trade passes through them, he said.

U.S. seaport activity last year generated $4.6 trillion of total economic impact in the U.S. and generated $321 billion of federal, state, and local tax revenues, the AAPA study reported.

”The fact is that while over a quarter of the U.S. economy is accounted for by port cargo activity, freight connections to our ports are crumbling, putting our economy at risk and reducing America’s competitiveness in global markets,” Nagle said.

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