A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) update its Freight and Land Use Handbook to help Freight stakeholders make better decisions in the future.
A review of the handbook found that it had not been updated since 2012. The GAO said updating the handbook would allow for better planning for establishing facilities.
The study comes after the COVID-19 pandemic caused congestion at U.S. maritime ports when they struggled to unload large cargo ships in a timely manner, causing delays in delivering along the supply chain. In response, freight stakeholders, like port authorities and railroads, advocated building inland facilities to transfer cargo containers for use between trains and trucks.
“The Department of Transportation’s Freight and Land Use Handbook provides information and best practices for planning and establishing such facilities. However, we found that this handbook has not been updated since 2012,” the GAO said. “We recommended that DOT create a plan to update it.”
The GAO said the Freight and Land Use Handbook does not reflect new emerging markets, like e-commerce. Additionally, the agency found that 11 of 17 stakeholder groups did not know the handbook existed.
While Federal Highway Administration officials said they plan on updating the book by the end of 2023, there are no milestones for the project, the GAO found.
The GAO said the FHWA needs to develop a plan with timelines to update the handbook, and it needs to develop a strategy to communicate the handbook has been updated to stakeholders.