Participants and reporters at the Influencer's Roundtable, hosted by AAPA & Ports of Indiana
Photo/ Aaron Ellis AAPA
Participants and reporters at the Influencer's Roundtable, hosted by AAPA & Ports of Indiana
Photo/ Aaron Ellis AAPA
On May 18, AAPA and the Ports of Indiana co-hosted a national freight transportation industry Influencer’s Roundtable forum. At that event, 20 invited "influencers," comprising key transportation, business, academic and government leaders from around the country, gathered to talk frankly about the current state of America’s transportation infrastructure and what needs to be done to make improvements. The group agreed that Indiana’s new 20-year road-and-bridge funding plan, which will provide $1.2 billion per year, could be used as a national multimodal example for fixing America’s ailing transportation infrastructure. Input about road and bridge needs was received from all 92 Indiana counties. Getting support for upgrading America’s infrastructure, the influencers agreed, will need to take a similar, unified approach. One of the invited participants, Robyn Boerstling of the National Association of Manufacturers, wrote a blog about the event.
On May 17, AAPA and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the nonprofit, nonpartisan association representing America’s state transportation departments, co-hosted a Congressional PORTS Caucus briefing, titled "By Road, Rail and Sea: Building a 21st Century Multi-modal Freight Network." PORTS Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Ted Poe (R-TX) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) conducted the briefing, which was moderated by AAPA Executive Committee member Molly Campbell, PPM®, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s port director. It featured presentations from Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Dr. Shawn Wilson, Port of Port Arthur (Texas) Deputy Port Director Larry Kelley, BNSF Railway Chief Legal Officer Roger Nober and American Trucking Associations First Vice-Chairman David Manning. Presenters covered an array of freight transportation issues, chief among them how provisions under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act are being implemented.