WASHINGTON – Today, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, along with Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, hosted a roundtable discussion on the importance of investing in projects related to freight and goods movement as part of a 21st century transportation network. A number of important voices in transportation from the public and private sector joined the senators in a fruitful discussion on how federal transportation programs can help to make freight transportation more efficient, reliable, and affordable for American businesses.

More photos available on Flickr

“The U.S. transportation system moves more than 52 million tons of goods worth nearly $46 billion every day,” Sen. Carper said. “Efficient, reliable, and affordable freight movement is important to nearly every type of business in the U.S. Businesses rely on freight movement for their supply chains as well as to get their goods to market both domestically and overseas. Today my Senate colleagues and I, who lead two key transportation subcommittees, had a very productive discussion with the users of the freight network to better understand how we can help them to grow, create jobs, and contribute to our economic success. The expert input we collected today will be invaluable to me and my colleagues in Congress as we work to find a bipartisan agreement on how to craft and pay for transportation legislation that invests in freight projects with a strong return on investment.”

The otherparticipants in the roundtable were:

The Honorable Mort Downey

Founding Chairman, Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors

Mr. Matthew Garrett

Director, Oregon Department of Transportation

Mr. Paul Trombino

Director, Iowa Department of Transportation

Mr. Thomas K. Sanderson

Chief Executive Officer, Transplace

Ms. Amy Larson, Esq.

President, National Waterways Conference, Inc.

Mr. Kevin Kolevar

Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Dow Chemical Corporation

Mr. Pat Thomas

Vice President of Global Public Affairs, UPS

Mr. Dean Wise
Vice President of Network Strategy, BNSF Railway Company