Washington, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) today announced support from key industry leaders for his Freight Priorities Act, legislation that would establish a new approach to national freight policy that would strengthen the U.S. economy, create jobs and reduce air pollution.

The Freight Priorities Act has now been endorsed by the Coalition for America’s Gateways & Trade Corridors and Transportation for America.

“Last week, I announced five measures highlighting the need to invest in our ports, railways and roads,” Sen. Booker said. “Today, I am pleased to announce support from key industry leaders in transportation who recognize the significance of this legislation. The Freight Priorities Act sets goals that increase efficiencies, reduce congestion and ultimately improve the environmental quality and health of communities surrounding freight networks. This legislation strengthens the economy and empowers communities in New Jersey and across the nation, and I look forward to seeing them considered in the larger transportation bill.”

New Jersey alone has nearly 1,000 miles of rail freight lines, connecting every corner of the state to consumers and networks throughout the region. The legislation introduced by Senator Booker recognizes the role infrastructure plays in driving our nation’s economy. Prioritizing freight transport is important to New Jersey because freight moves through the state’s major ports such as Newark and Camden, along the extensive and heavily congested interstate system, and on rail lines.

Here are excerpts from letters of support highlighting the Freight Priorities Act:

·“The Coalition applauds Senator Booker’s vision for improving freight infrastructure, increasing our multimodal freight network’s capacity and resilience, and reducing the impacts on local communities resulting from this important economic activity. His innovative proposals for an urban pilot program, dedicated freight research, and supply chain performance metrics are all promising contributions that will assist in building a robust – and much needed – multimodal freight program.”

–Coalition for Americas Gateways & Trade Corridors

· “…Transportation for America supports the all-of-the-above approach the Freight Priorities Act takes to addressing our freight challenges by prioritizing multimodal investments.” Transportation for America praised the legislations pilot program stating, this type of program will help more communities learn from the best practices that come out of this program so freight movement can improve in congested urban areas and throughout the country.”

– Transportation for America

The Freight Priorities Act

·Prioritizes freight investment throughout all modes of transportation including: rail, waterways, ports and highways.

·Establishes freight performance measures to improve the efficiency of a multimodal freight network that will strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness and create jobs.

·Sets goals to promote and advance energy conservation within freight movement, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2030.

·Requires public ports to be included in the freight planning process to ensure a balanced investment in and greater reliability of the national freight network.

·Creates a pilot program to evaluate multimodal freight transportation through congested urban areas and specifically examines how freight movement affects surrounding communities.

·Establishes a national research program to assess multimodal goods movement and study major freight challenges in urban and rural areas.