View the November 16 seminar recording
Nicole Coene
Good morning or good afternoon depending on where you are. Welcome to the Talking Freight Seminar Series. My name is Nicole Coene and I will moderate today's seminar. Today's topic is: State Freight Plans and State Freight Advisory Committees – FAST Act Guidance Overview.
Before I go any further, I wanted to let you know that DOT has been experiencing issues with the voice over IP during large webinars. If you begin to experience sound quality issues with your computer, you best solution may be to call the teleconference line.
If you do call the teleconference for audio, you need to mute your computer speakers.
Today we'll have one presentation, given by:
As the Program Manager for Freight, Katelyn Dwyer directs all government relations, policy and technical service issues related to how State DOTs assess the ways freight and commercial goods move on all modes of transportation. This includes staffing the AASHTO Standing Committees on Water Transportation (SCOWT), Rail Transportation (SCORT), the Special Committee on Intermodal Transportation and Economic Expansion (SCITEE), and the Subcommittee on Highway Transport (SCOHT).
Prior to this position, Katelyn worked at AASHTO, as the program specialist for a public transit technical assistance program. Prior to joining AASHTO, Katelyn worked at AARP, focusing on creating livable communities for people of all ages. Katelyn Dwyer holds MPA from American University and BS degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Ryan Endorf has been with USDOT for 3 years working as an economist under the Under Secretary for Transportation for Policy. His responsibilities include helping to implement the freight provisions of the FAST Act (and previously MAP-21), as well as maritime policy, Department rulemakings, Buy America, and USDOT's discretionary grant programs.
Tiffany Julien joined the FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations in 2013. As a Transportation Specialist assigned to the Office of Freight Management and Operations, Tiffany supports the development and delivery of freight-related programs and initiatives. This includes working closely with the public sector at all levels of government and the affected industry sectors to conceptualize and implement freight transportation programs and initiatives. She also supports efforts to build consensus on implementation of border wait-time measurement systems at mutually determined high priority U.S. – Canada and U.S. -Mexico land border.
Today's seminar will last 90 minutes, with approximately 30 minutes allocated for the presentation and the remaining 60 minutes for audience Question and Answer. If during the presentations you think of a question, you can type it into the chat area. Please make sure you send your question to "Everyone" and indicate which presenter your question is for. Presenters will be unable to answer your questions during their presentations, but I will start off the question and answer session with the questions typed into the chat box. If time allows, we will open up the phone lines for questions as well. If we run out of time and are unable to address all questions we will attempt to get written responses from the presenters to the unanswered questions.
The PowerPoint presentation used during the seminar is available for download from the file download box in the lower right corner of your screen. The presentations will also be available online within the next few weeks, along with a recording and a transcript. I will notify all attendees once these materials are posted online.
Talking Freight seminars are eligible for 1.5 certification maintenance credits for AICP members. In order to obtain credit for today's seminar, you must have logged in with your first and last name or if you are attending with a group of people you must type your first and last name into the chat box. I have included more detailed instructions in the file share box on how to obtain your credits after the seminar.
For those of you who are not AICP members but would like to receive PDH credits for this webinar, please note that FHWA does not formally offer PDHs, however, it may be possible to receive PDHs for your participation in Talking Freight if you are able to self-certify. To possibly receive PDHs, please download the agenda from the file download box and submit this agenda to your respective licensing agency.
Finally, I encourage everyone to please also download the evaluation form from the file share box and submit this form to me after you have filled it out.
I'm now going to turn it over to Katelyn Dwyer of AASHTO to get us started.
Katelyn Dwyer
Thank you. Hello everyone. Thank you for having me to discuss the state freight plan and freight advisory committee guidance. I will keep my remarks short so we have ample time for U.S. DOT to give their presentation and for states and others to ask questions.
I know many states are working to create either their first state freight plan, or are working to update their freight plan to be FAST Act compliant. We noticed 71 percent of states have state freight plans, and 65 percent have freight advisory committees. I know that states are working hard to create their freight plan by the 2017 deadline.
While committees are not required by the FAST Act, they are strongly encouraged and many states are already utilizing these committees as an opportunity to share resources as well as attract private sector investment and provide them landing inputs into a state or region supply chain. State freight plans are especially important due to the requirement for a state to have a plan by December 2017 in order to obligate National Highway Freight Program dollars.
State freight plans this time will be multimodal in scope and will serve as a critical resource for states to use in prioritizing freight transportation investments. I look forward to hearing the questions during the call today. Back to you, Nicole.
Nicole Coene
Thank you. I will turn it over to Ryan and Tiffany.
Tiffany Julien
Good afternoon. I want to thank you for joining us today. During today's webinar we will go over the state freight plan guidance that was released in October 2016. Ryan Endorf and I will tag-team this presentation.
Today we will discuss the background, and also talk about MAP-21 versus FAST Act freight planning requirements, the purpose of the guidance, and the content of the state freight plans.
I would like to kick off this discussion with background, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act or FAST Act, includes National Highway freight programs to develop state freight plans that provide a blueprint to plan for the immediate and long-range planning activities and investments of the state with respect to freight.
Beginning on December 4, 2017, to be eligible to obligate federal funds provided through the National Highway Freight Program, the FAST Act requires a state plan that complies with these provisions. USDOT will review the state plans for compliance, and will use them to determine whether the state is eligible to obligate funds under the portion of the National Highway Freight Program.
At this time I would like to turn it over to Ryan to speak about the MAP-21 versus FAST Act freight plan requirements.
Ryan Endorf
Hello everyone. I am from the secretary's office. MAP-21 was established in 2012 and was the first statutory requirement for state freight plans. State freight plans under MAP-21 were not required except to be eligible for additional federal match; please look under section 1116 of MAP-21 for more details.
The FAST Act basically builds on those requirements for state freight plans and are now tied to the obligation of funding. For the National Highway Freight Program, many of the requirements are similar between MAP-21 and the FAST Act. For state freight plans we wanted to highlight several that are new and certainly while we recognize many states want to develop a state freight plan that was compliant with MAP-21, we applaud the effort and we do not want any state to feel if they went ahead and developed the MAP-21 plan that they need to necessarily reinvent the wheel for all those components.
In this slide and the slide that follows, these are the additional requirements the FAST Act now requires for state freight plans. First, the multimodal critical rural freight facilities and corridors are designated within the state under section 70103 of title 49. The critical rural and urban freight corridors are designated within the state under section 167 and title 23. Those are designated on the National Highway Freight Network by the state or the MPO's.
The description on how the plan will meet the multimodal freight policy goals are described in Section 70101(b) of title 49 and the National Highway Freight Program goals described in Section 167 of title 23.
A freight investment plan that is fiscally constrained includes a list the priority projects and describes how funds made available to carry out 167 of title 23 would be invested and matched. We expect that there are a lot of questions about this particular component and we will discuss it in more detail as well as answer questions. The final new requirement is consultation with the state freight advisory committee if the state has one established.
As in MAP-21, the secretary is required to strongly encourage that states establish State freight advisory committees but they are not a requirement. If you have established a state freight advisory committee, they need to demonstrate how they consulted with the state freight advisory committee in the process of developing their FAST Act compliance state freight plan.
The purpose of our guidance on state freight plans is really to give states an idea of what is absolutely required in order to be compliant with the Fast so they can obligate their freight funds under the National Highway Freight Program. We have attempted to provide a template to reflect how you can organize your state freight plan and the template is completely optional, states are free to develop their state freight plan any way they see fit as long as they meet all 10 of the required elements. We also provide some additional information and approaches that are again completely optional but the states may consider including them or thinking about them as they develop their state freight plans.
Finally as required by the FAST Act and by Section 7201 of Title 49, a state freight advisory committee. The last part of our guidance also provides information to states that may not have state freight advisory committees on what or who they may include, what purpose they may serve, and what duties they should fulfill.
Tiffany Julien
Thank you, Ryan. Now I would like to talk about the contents of the state freight plans. Under Title 49 they list 10 required elements that all plans must address. We will take the remainder of our time to go through all 10 elements in detail to provide information for you as you go about developing your state freight plan.
The first one is identification of significant freight system trends, needs, and issues. We know that states have been addressing the trends, needs, and issues of their freight system. However we wanted to offer recommendations on how you might go about doing so. As Ryan indicated these are recommendations but they are not required. We wanted to offer a template as to how you can achieve the first requirements.
The state freight plan begins with a discussion of the roles of that state freight transportation plays in the state overall economy. Some ideas are key issues confronting the freight system, present and future might be identified as part of this requirement. The needs to improve safety and reduce impacts of freight movement on communities as well as future transportation labor force challenges may also be some recommended areas to address in these particular requirements.
What does identification include? This could include assessing the following: the benefits and burdens of freight movements, effects on community connectivity and cohesion, the impacts of longer and more frequent trains at railroad and rail grade crossings, truck parking capacity and information on parking availability, hazardous material transportation and emergency response capabilities, and areas of high level of pedestrian and bicycle activity.
The next requirement is a description of freight policies strategies of performance measures guiding transportation investment decisions. Once again we would like to offer recommendations on how you can approach and adhere to this requirement in your state freight plans. One recommendation would be to identify any constraints in state law that affects state -- freight related investment policies. Discuss regional freight planning activities in which the state participates and identify freight related institutions. Explain how it will measure the success of the strategies, policies and investments in achieving the goals and objectives of the plan.
Such measurements may be qualitative but preferably consistent with the measures if used in performance of the freight infrastructure. These will allow a state to determine if they are achieving their objective and to quantify and assess outputs and outcomes relative to expectation.
Ryan Endorf
Requirement number three is one of the new requirements under the FAST Act, it is fairly straightforward. It is asking for a listing of the two different types of facilities. The multimodal critical rural freight facility and corridors designated within the state under section 70103 of title 49. Section 70103 is the multimodal freight network. The department released an interim national multimodal freight network in June of this year and that was open for public comment through September 6, 2016. We are currently working to designate that.
In terms of whether or not this should be included, it really depends on when you're updating the state freight plan to be FAST Act compliant. If we designated the national multimodal freight network you should include any of those facilities listed here in your state freight plan. However, if you submit your state freight plan and you finished it and we have not yet designated this network, then you do not need to include it, at least this first time. Subsequent updates to the state freight plan will occur every five years, at that point we certainly will have a national multimodal freight network and when you redo your state freight plans and update them in five years then you should certainly include these facilities. Similarly for the critical rural and urban freight corridors, those under the National Highway Freight Network should be designated by the state or the MPO's in consultation with each other depending on the size of the urbanized area. If you have designated a critical rural and urban freight corridor for the National Highway Freight Network you should include it. If you have not, this requirement may not necessarily apply.
Those designations should be done on a rolling basis and they certainly can change. You do not need to update your state freight plan each time you make a change to one of these, at least change to the critical rural and urban freight corridors, it is time when you update your state freight plan it should identify what is currently designated.
The fourth requirement is also a new requirement. It is to describe how the plan will improve the ability of the state to meet the goals of the national multimodal freight policy and the National Highway Freight Program under Title 23.
These goals are very similar to each other. It should be fairly straightforward to address both of them. I would say you do not necessarily need to address all of these equally. If there are certain goals that are more of a priority than others you can devote more time to one or the other. But make an attempt to address all of them. They are very comprehensive, there is a lot of opportunity and a lot of ways that you can go about addressing how your state freight plan is going to meet the goals or improve the ability the state to meet those goals. Highlight a couple of different ones, certainly the ability of the state freight plan to improve the safety of your state transportation system particularly the movement of freight, improving the efficiency of freight movement, how the state plans mitigate the effects of freight movement on communities as well as the environment. Those are certainly areas that the state freight plan should try to address.
Briefly I can go quickly into what the national multimodal freight policies are, one identified infrastructure improvements, policies, and operational innovations. Number two was to improve the safety, security, efficiency, and resiliency of a multimodal freight design. Number three was to achieve a state of good repair. Number four focuses on innovation and advanced technology to improve the safety efficiency and reliability of the freight network. Five is to improve the economic efficiency and productivity of the national mode. Six was to improve the short and long distance movement of goods traveling across rural areas between rural areas and population centers as well as between the nation's ports and airports and gateways. Finally, seven was to improve the flexibility of states to support multistate corridor planning and the creation of multistate organizations to increase the ability of states to address multimodal freight connectivity, and to reduce the adverse community impacts of freight movement on the national multimodal freight network and finally to pursue the goals described in a manner that is not burdensome on the state and local governments.
Tiffany Julien
Ryan just mentioned the multimodal, the national multimodal freight policy goals. At this time I would like to go over the National Highway Freight Program goals. As you go about developing your plan and you begin to identify your projects, we would like for you to consider the National Highway Freight Program goals. Those goals are, invest in infrastructure improvements and implement operational improvements on the highways of the United States that strengthen the contribution of the national Highway freight network to the economic competitiveness of the United States, reduce congestion and bottlenecks on the National Highway Freight Network, improve the year-round reliability of freight transportation, and increase productivity particularly for domestic industries and businesses that create high-value jobs. Improve the safety, security, efficiency, and resiliency of freight transportation in rural and urban areas. Improve the state of good report of the national Highway. Use innovation and advanced technology to improve the safety efficiency and reliability of the national Highway freight network. Improve the efficiency and productivity of the National Highway Freight Network. Improve flexibility of the state to support multistate corridor planning and multistate organizations to increase the ability of state to address Highway freight connectivity, and reduce the impact of freight movement on the national Highway freight network.
As you can see there are similar goals in both the national multimodal freight program as well as the national Highway freight program. The next item I would like to go over is requirement number five which are the requirements of the state freight plan. There are innovative technologies and operational strategies to improve the safety and efficiency of freight movement.
Once again we would like to offer recommendations that you can achieve in compliance of number five from the state rate plan. You may want to explore abilities of new technologies and how they will affect the need to modify or expand existing infrastructure. And also consult with the private sector about innovations through forms such as state freight by securities. The private sector has been leading the way with advanced driver systems, which would incorporate technologies, unmanned aircraft and systems, and many other innovative applications of technology. You can utilize your state freight advisory committee if you have what to fully engage the private sector and completely understand some of these new technologies and innovations.
Requirement number six is the description of improvements that may be required to reduce or impede the deterioration due to heavy vehicles. Once again, we would like to offer recommendations on how you might achieve this requirement. The state freight plan should address the problems and strategies to manage heavy freight vehicles on roadways. State should also consider the viability of potentially shifting heavy freight two modes other than highways. DOT recommends but does not require that the freight plan address special needs of waterways, ports, railways to move very heavy material. You may recall Katelyn Dwyer mentioning that the plans are multimodal in scope this may be your opportunity to engage the other mode.
Requirements number seven is an inventory of facilities with freight mobility issues such as bottlenecks and mitigation strategies. The statute does not provide specific instructions regarding what qualifies as significant mobility that leaves this determination to the states. States have a significant amount of flexibility to determine which facilities most concern them based on methods they deploy to measure mobility and state freight plans that will likely be on the national Highway freight network and the national multimodal freight network. DOT also recommends consideration of methods that address the fluidity of freight movement to use of multimodal data and analysis to understand the origin and destination of the freight supply chain.
Requirement number eight is inclusion of any significant congestion or delay caused by the freight movements and mitigation strategies. Once again our recommendations would be make quantitative and qualitative assessments related to freight movements on both a local and network basis, Considering network effects of mitigating actions and where possible to look at a variety of solutions including but not limited to adding multimodal capacity, improved intelligent transportation systems, incentives to use off-peak delivery times, and regulatory changes to eliminate impediments.
Ryan Endorf
Requirement number nine is the freight investment plan that includes a list of priority projects and describes how the funds would be invested and matched. These freight investment plans are fiscally constrained. They could all include a project or identify days of a project if funding for the completion of the product is reasonably anticipated. The fiscally constrained term that we use is the same meaning as we would use it to apply to the transportation improvement program and the statewide transportation improvement program - STIP. It allows for the freight investment plan to the update more often than every five years. You can update it after two years if we want to. The goal is to show how your National Highway Program Formula funds are going to be invested and matched. The only projects that are required to be on the freight investment plan are the ones that are fiscally constrained but ones that you are planning to use National Highway program formula funds.
That is the minimum requirements. We have suggested as recommendations, certainly that your freight plan should be carefully aligned with your TIP and STIP documents with respect to states. We require this to be updated every four years at the minimum.
In terms of other optional elements we suggest perhaps for consideration by states if you want to list projects beyond the five years that you want to go out 20 years and identify projects that the state knows they will eventually need to do but has not necessarily identified how they will pay for it, that is certainly something that you can consider doing. If you were to do that you might want to closely link that to the statewide and metropolitan and long-range plans.
Certainly states can feel free to coordinate multistate projects as part of their fiscal investment plans. If you have a multistate project that you are intending to use dollars, both states need to reflect the interstate plans and in particular what the match will look like.
And finally, we encourage states to consider the results of economic analysis when determining which progress you may include or you are considering including into your freight investment plan. Certainly we expect that we heard a number of folks have had questions about this and we're happy to address this during the question and answer session or off-line as well.
The final requirement, this is also a new one, is consultation with the state freight advisory committee if applicable. As I mentioned at the outset, states are not required to have a state freight advisory committee, but the Department strongly encourages that states establish one. If a state currently has the state advisory committee, they need to demonstrate how they consulted with it in the development of their state freight plan. Demonstrating consultation does not necessarily mean that the state freight advisory committee has to approve the state freight plan. You just need to show that you consulted with a wide range of stakeholders. State freight advisory committee, the agency recommends that you include a wide range of stakeholders and they are multimodal and they represent a bunch of interest whether environmental, waiver, carriers, ports, railroads, other state agencies, if you are a border state it could include representatives from Canada or México who there is a lot of cross-border freight movement. It is really up to the states on who to include. It could be a cross-section; it does not have to represent every MPO or government or port, but we encourage representation of all of those different types of stakeholders within the state freight advisory committee.
Again, we are happy to answer any questions about state freight advisory committees, they are not required. However if your state has one they need to demonstrate that they consulted with it as they develop their state freight plan.
Finally, I want to discuss the review process. As I mentioned before state freight plans are due by December 4, 2017 in order for states to continue to obligate the National Highway Freight Program formula funds. You should submit your plans to the FHWA division office in your state. From there the plan will be reviewed by the office as well as some of the other modes within DOT.
I want to note state freight plans are multimodal in scope, however under Title 23, Section 167, the multimodal component of the state freight plans do not necessarily need to be completed by December 4, 2017. I do want to highlight that. We strongly encourage states try to make the plans that they have by December 4, 2017 multimodal, but if for whatever reason you are unable to buy the deadline, you need to at the very least address the highway components. Once the plan is submitted to the DOT the plan will be reviewed by the division office, by federal highways, and the modal administrations at Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Railroad Administration will have time to review and provide feedback.
The Federal Highway division office notifies the state DOT of the determination of whether the plan meets the FAST Act requirements or whether there are some areas that need additional work in order to satisfy those requirements.
With that, I believe that concludes the formal presentation.
Nicole Coene
Thank you, Ryan and Tiffany. I'd now like to start off the Q&A session with the questions posted online. Once we get through those questions, if time allows I'll open up the phone lines for questions.
The first question comes from Brad. When do you expect the national multimodal freight network to be designated?
Ryan Endorf
The comment period on the interim NMFN ended on September 6 and the Department has been working on designating that. The due date was one year after the enactment of the FAST Act so that would be December 4 of this year and we are working to meet that deadline.
Nicole Coene
The next question comes from Thomas. What is the relationship between highways and the multimodal freight plan?
Ryan Endorf
The state freight plans are necessarily multimodal in scope, which means that the highway components of that are included with in it. As I mentioned earlier, at the very minimum at least for the obligation of the National Highway Freight Program funds, all of the highway components need to be addressed and the multimodal component do not necessarily need to be complete by December 4, 2017.
It is our view that the state freight plans are multimodal in scope; all 10 elements should address all modes. I hope that provides some clarification.
Nicole Coene
How will the freight performance measures that will be part of the PM3 ruling performance the freight system integrate with the various aspects of the state freight plan? State DOTs as well as optionally for MPO's, will have to establish targets for performance of the freight system.
Spencer Stevens
This is Spencer Stevens. I have a case of laryngitis so hopefully you can hear me. The performance measure aspect of the statewide long-range plans will be captured in the long-range plans themselves. That is where you have to have discussion of the performance measures, the system performance reports and all that goes with it. Since the state freight plan is a subset if you will of the statewide long-range plan it will be captured through that.
Nicole Coene
Brian would like to know to be sure if states are allowed to spend NHFP funds prior to December 2017, even if they haven't created it by that time?
Ryan Endorf
That is correct. Up until December 4, 2017 there is no requirement that a state needs to have a state freight plan to receive funds. You can use funds through the end of the year, 2017 which would be the end of September of next year you can obligate your freight formula funds to obligate your NHFP formula funds without having a state freight plan. After December 4, 2017 if you do not have a state plan which includes a plan that is fiscally constrained, then you will have to pause the obligation of any funds remaining in that fiscal year.
The funds will not go away. I want to clarify that. The funds will not disappear. You just have a delay in terms of being able to obligate them. If you miss the December 4 deadline of 2017, if you were to have a Fast Act compliant freight plan that federal highways and DOT can determine was compliant by February you need to continue to obligate your funds through the remainder of that fiscal year.
Nicole Coene
What type of projects prioritization versus project to lease project?
Ryan Endorf
You need to show the project that you intend to use your national Highway program funds for. Those are the only things required to be on the freight investment plan. It is up to the states to determine where they want to spend formula funds. It could be the highest priority, it could be somewhere in the middle. It depends on what the state priorities are.
In terms of what we suggested as an optional element in terms of listing out more projects, you could get into the highest priority and tier it that way down to the lowest priority. At a minimum we just need to see which projects you intend to spend your national freight program funds on.
Nicole Coene
Who has the final approval authority of the state freight plan?
Ryan Endorf
DOT will review them. You will get the decision letter from the federal highway division office.
Nicole Coene
If a state is considering using their 10 percent freight formula funds for a competitive program, how would those projects need to be included in the freight investment plan?
Ryan Endorf
If this is in reference to Tiger, there are specific limits on constraints; you need to reasonably anticipate that the funding will be available. I think if you were to include as a sort of match a hypothetical FASTLANE or Tiger grant, I do not know if you could claim that you would be reasonably anticipated that the funding will be available. I would say don't use a Tiger grant or a fast lane grant as a source of match for the fiscal investment plan or the freight investment plan. I would say that you are not precluded from applying for a FASTLANE or Tiger grant if you put the project each year fiscally constrained freight investment plan. You're not precluded from applying to those programs. Don't use a hypothetical grant as a source of match.
Ryan Endorf
In terms of competing the 10 percent among the port and the railroads, I would say that is for the fiscal year that applies right away, fiscal year 2018 you need to have allocated how that 10 percent and where it will go to the project. Because the statute allows you to update your freight investment plan more often than the five years, if you want to compete for fiscal year 2019 or 2020, what you can do is you can submit a revised freight investment plan prior to fiscal year 2019. Once you have identified how you are going to compete or how you are going to allocate that 10 percent funding to specific port or rail or multimodal projects. Does that answer the question?
Nicole Coene
The next question, are multimodal projects other than highway projects required to be shown on the freight investment plan?
Ryan Endorf
Up to 10 percent of the national Highway freight program funds can be used for non-highway projects. If you tend to use that tempers and allocation to a non-highway project, it will need to be in your freight investment plan and reflected there.
Nicole Coene
We have a lot of questions here. Can projects in the FIP apply for fast lane funding?
Ryan Endorf
Yes.
Nicole Coene
Are guidelines for the developed of the FIP going to be published? If so when?
Ryan Endorf
Guidance is what we published so far. We may have additional questions and answers that we may develop in the future based on the questions that we get today; there is no timeline that I have for that yet.
Nicole Coene
Are guidelines of the designation of the CUFC/CRFC going to be published? If so when?
Crystal Jones
The initial guidance on the national Highway freight program includes the process for designating those corridors based on feedback that we receive. We will continue to update that guidance. For instance we will likely in the near future clarify the MPO state consultation process and how that impacts the certification of the corridors. If you were to go to federal highway FAST Act website, FAST Act Guidance, and look under the national Highway freight program there is a guidance that has been issued on designation of the critical corridors to include templates for submitting to the federal highway division office.
Nicole Coene
We need more information on the designation re-designation process of CUFC/CRFC. Consideration of delays and congestions by freight what type of considerations? Do we need to analyze system bottlenecks?
Ryan Endorf
That is up to the state how much information they want to provide and how in-depth they want to go. Certainly consideration of the bottlenecks could be very helpful for the state in identifying significant areas or significant bottlenecks are areas of congestion. There is a lot of flexibility that is what left up to the state to help determine.
Tiffany Julien
In addition to that I want to let the listeners know that the federal highway through the national Highway Institute offers fundamental freight data workshop. This may be something that your agency or staff would consider taking. The Federal Highway administration one-day workshop is intended for freight transportation professionals, State Department of Transportations and MPOs including decision-makers who need information on freight data for a variety of uses. The workshop will provide a broad knowledge of freight sources as well as the ability to utilize transportation planning, program, project development, and analysis.
Nicole Coene
This is the last question in this group. Do all of the projects identify in the 2014 CFMP need to be prioritized in the FIP element or only the projects that will receive NHFP funds?
Ryan Endorf
The minimum requirements are the latter, only NHFP funds. We do encourage you as part of your plans to consider including more than just those projects.
Nicole Coene
We only have to update our freight plan every five years even if the multimodal and urban and critical rural corridor components come online and we haven't included them?
Ryan Endorf
That is correct. The statutory language of the state shall update a plan no less frequently than once every five years. However, this gets to the next question about the fiscal constraints. The freight investment plan can be updated more frequently than is required. If you want to update your freight investment plan component every year you can do that. We would suggest that you try to not necessarily update every year and try to identify all five years out in advance. And then update only as necessary. You have that flexibility under the statute.
Crystal Jones
This is Crystal Jones again, hopefully through the urban freight corridor process we will come up with a website that you can adopt by reference in your plan as well as having to change it every time on a rolling basis. Maybe if that comes online in a timely fashion then perhaps there might be an opportunity to include for instance please refer to federal highway website. Maybe there is an opportunity to have something to adopt in your plan to accommodate for the fact that those can be designated?
Ryan Endorf
The constraint plan only needs to be five years, only for the life of the FAST Act - Fiscal year 2016 through 2020.
Nicole Coene
Was the response to the question can the plan be fiscally constrained for less than 10 years?
Ryan Endorf
The answer is yes. If you want to go further out you can do that. The funding for the FAST Act for the national Highway funding program goes through 2020.
Nicole Coene
If we choose on the fiscal constraint requirement to have a portion of the formula funds identified with the match and then a larger unfunded needs section that we can update that annually with our STIP update?
Ryan Endorf
Yes. That would be fine.
Nicole Coene
If the state has already completed a freight plan under MAP-21 requirements which FAST Act provisions must be in corporate it to remain eligible for NHFP funds prior to conducting the formula update for the freight plan?
Ryan Endorf
Slides two and three are titled FAST Act versus the FAST Act freight plans. Those are the components that differ between MAP-21 and FAST Act. If you have already done a MAP-21 compliance plan released earlier this year, the other component is the exact same between MAP-21 and the FAST Act. You are certainly welcome to reuse those elements certainly if it has been done very recently. If it has been done a couple years ago maybe consider updating those sections as well. You do not necessarily need to redo them entirely.
For the other requirements the reason why we highlighted them is they get -- they are completely new. Some states may have addressed them as part of their MAP-21 compliance state freight plan, some states may not have. And some of the requirements like the fiscally constrained plan maybe no one has. That is really what we want to highlight.
Nicole Coene
Are we required to have a five-year list of projects? Or is it a list of projects maybe not five years, with identified needs and investment priorities?
Ryan Endorf
The requirements are for a list of projects that the national Highway freight program funds will address. If you update next year, really it may be a three-year yes -- list it would be fiscal year 18, fiscal year 19 and fiscal year 2020.
As an optional element we would encourage you to go further and also identify projects that are perhaps unfunded but address and identify needs or investment priorities that you identify with requirements number one which discusses the certificate needs and threats and challenges that the state is experiencing.
Crystal Jones
You also might want to tell us how you spent the previous fiscal year funds if it is a project that you are carrying out over multiple fiscal years and it functions with a future project. As an example if you had a fiscal year 16 project and you do your plan next year, if you want to describe how that phase of the project functions with another phase that is going to be carried out in the future you may want to describe that in your plan. Although obviously it will not be in the fiscal constraint requirements it would be to show what you are doing with your state to use your funds.
Nicole Coene
Is the prioritized list of projects required to be in the plan or can we reference the investment plan?
Ryan Endorf
You can reference the STIP you need to specifically identify at least the project or projects that are going to specifically use the national Highway freight program formula funds. You can certainly reference the STIP in addition. Please do identify in the plan those project or projects that are going to use those formula funds.
Nicole Coene
Which policy goals are discretionary to the state?
Ryan Endorf
All of the policy goals that have been identified in the statute the state are supposed to consider. The discretion is really in terms of how much you discuss how you are going to try to meet those goals. If there are some goals that are more important for efficiency or something that the state has identified as very important to the state, those might receive more attention than the other goals. The expectation is that all of the goals apply to the state and should be considered.
Nicole Coene
For freight investment plans do we have to identify why it is a state fright priority or will the listing of the project, with funding information, be sufficient?
Ryan Endorf
I would say the listing is sufficient. Certainly we would appreciate and I am sure others would appreciate if there was an explanation why it is a priority project. From our perspective the listing would be sufficient.
Tiffany Julien
However it is important as you develop your state plan and you identify your goals with respect to freight in your state, that there is some recognition of the projects addressing said goals in the plan.
Nicole Coene
Do the projects in the FIP need to be fully funded?
Ryan Endorf
The first one, yes. If it is in the freight investment plan it needs to be fully funded. It needs to show the entire match. Again that is only for the projects that are going to use the National Highway Freight Program funds.
Nicole Coene
Will there be additional guidance on the development of the FIP? If so, when do you expect it?
Ryan Endorf
We believe the guidance is sufficient. We may release additional questions and answers following this webinar and any other webinars that we do based on some of the questions that we received. There may be more information there. I do not have a timeline for that.
Nicole Coene
How often can be FIP be revised and what will be the process?
Ryan Endorf
The statute just says more frequently. You can update it every week if you really wanted to. I do not recommend that. You could. You could do it annually if you wanted to. There is no restriction.
Nicole Coene
What is the process and timeline for the approval of the states FIP?
Ryan Endorf
For the first one, the first investment plan is when you submit your full state plan that would be the first time. We would approve it then. Other than that you send it to the division office and they would note that here's an update, an update on the freight investment plan and make sure it meets the requirements and that would be in the records as an addendum to what you submitted.
Spencer Stevens
This is Spencer Stevens again, keep in mind the freight investment plan is really just the list of those priority projects you will use the formula funds on. Whatever program or process you need to come up with that list of projects or amend the list of projects there is no said defined way to do that.
Nicole Coene
Must be FIP commit all five years of NHFP funding? Is the commitment at the apportionment or obligation authority level?
Ryan Endorf
The first part of the question is FIP the first one you submit should include all of the years. In effect it is going to be the three fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020. It should include all of them. If there is uncertainty for 2020 that is why you have the ability to update your freight investment plan subsequently if conditions change and you need to reevaluate how you're going to use your formula funds. For the first one you should commit all three years.
Crystal Jones
This is Crystal again. From the mechanics of that, what that means is we are approving the state plan, the state freight plan will allow you to continue to obligate your funds. If that state freight plan does not include that investment plan and tell us how you will use those funds, we cannot allow you to obligate those funds for which you have not told us how you are going to invest those funds. We will perhaps come up with a Q and a to describe that in a federal way. The bottom line is the plan will tell us, tell the financial folks in federal highway whether or not you continue to obligate those funds.
Nicole Coene
Can the initial FIP include projects on proposed not yet approved? What if the CUFC/CRFC and the FIP are submitted simultaneously?
Crystal Jones
There is a content element that requires that you knew the time you made those designations to include that in your plan. The eligibility in terms of where you can spend the national Highway freight program funds says it has to be on the national Highway freight network as a highway project. To be on the national Highway freight network you have to be on the primary Highway freight system, the rest of the interstate or to be a critical corridor. It is a matter of eligibility. Those funds can't be spent on anything other than those types of highways. That would suggest that if you are planning to spend the critical corridors need to be designated. Again, to reiterate Ryan's point, it is a flexible freight investment plan that can be updated as designations are made. If that is where you want to physically constrain your funds without having the place I do not think there would be an issue with that.
Nicole Coene
How does the FIP work in regards to the rolling designation of the CUFC/CRFC? For example corridor is picked up in the first release and then is flopped out with corridor be at a later date. Does it require the FIP to be amended to include projects in corridor B that will use NHFP funds.
Ryan Endorf
Yes. If you switch your freight investment plan is showing how the national Highway freight program funds are to be invested and matched that would necessarily need to change.
Nicole Coene
Does the FIP amendment need to be approved by the U.S. DOT?
Ryan Endorf
Yes. When you decide to submit a freight investment plan you comment to the federal highway division offices. As Spencer noted it is a list of projects. It should be fairly straightforward for the division office to review and ensure that it meets the requirements. It needs to show how your freight formula funds are going to be matched and ensure that every project on that list is fully funded. You do not have to resubmit your state freight plan to get the others approved you are just submitting that one component to the division office and the approval process should be fairly quick. Unless there are issues with what you submit.
Nicole Coene
If we update the FIP each year, does it need to be formally approved each year?
Ryan Endorf
The answer is yes. But it should be relatively quick assuming that it meets all of the requirements.
Nicole Coene
For updates and changes to the state freight plan, does it need to go back to the division office for approval?
Ryan Endorf
Yes. In five years, five years after your first plan each state needs to update their state freight plan. Depending on where we are in terms of an authorization bill, there could be additional requirements at that time related to the state freight plan. When you update your state freight plans we are likely to be out of the FAST Act or the FAST Act may be under CR and we may have entirely new authorization. There may be changes at that point which cannot proceed.
Nicole Coene
A follow-up from the question that was cut off, what is the status of the authorization of NHFP funds in other states? What is the status of the designation of CUFC/CRFC in other states?
Ryan Endorf
With respect to the first question, after December 4, 2017 either a state will be able to continue to obligate NHFP freight formula funds or will not be able to. It will depend on if they have a state freight plan that is fast act compliant that has been approved by U.S. DOT. There may be some states that cannot obligate their funds at that time. We're hoping that every state will be able to continue obligating the funds as of that time.
Nicole Coene
What is the status on the designation of CUFC/CRFC in other states?
Ryan Endorf
I will defer to the federal highway colleagues on that.
Crystal Jones
We have received one state. It does not mean that other states are not working on it. When you say what is the status, it is hard to define for where. We do not get that until it is submitted and certified to the division office. I would think based on the volume of questions that we received on the topic that most states are working on a designation, as far as what we have visibility in terms of a process only one state thus far has officially made a certification to federal highway.
Nicole Coene
If you do a midpoint update to a freight plan, do you have to go receive a new approval from your freight advisory Council?
Ryan Endorf
The state freight advisory committee does not need to approve your state freight plan. The requirements states they need to be consulted. Hopefully their consultation will be helpful to the state in terms of developing the plan. They do not need to approve it. If you do a midpoint update you need to consult with them again, but not necessarily get their approval. Although we hope that both the state and the state freight advisory committee would be on the same page but it is not a requirement.
Nicole Coene
In the fast act language on the 10 percent intermodal funding the language says the state can spend no more than 10 percent of NHFP money on freight intermodal or freight rail projects including projects within the boundaries of the facilities' direct Intermodal interchange transfer and access. This means states can spend 10 percent of the money on intermodal projects that do not fall under the supervision of the state.
Crystal Jones
I think you are right that the language suggests that those are examples. If something comes up that does not fit the definition as described in the statute the first point of contact for a state is making those decisions is with the division office. If the division office finds it too hard to determine if it falls within those guidelines, than that is when they will consult with headquarters. We saw that the language said including freight projects are non-highway projects to capture so those were examples because the word including was used. The recommendation is if you encounter a project that you want to consider under that particular part of the statute, first consult with your division office and then see what the results are in terms of the guidelines that we provided in making those determinations.
Nicole Coene
As a clarification to the STIP, can we indicate on the STIP which projects will be used for NHFP funds and then reference the STIP in the plan instead of listing the freight plan?
Spencer Stevens
You can reference back and forth. Again, the criteria and the regulations require the project to be within your state freight plan.
Nicole Coene
We've gotten through all the questions and I don't see anything else coming in. I think we will go ahead and close out. The recorded version of this event will be available within the next few weeks on the Talking Freight website.
The next seminar will be held on December 21, 2016 and the topic is still to be determined. Registration is not yet available but I will send a notice out through the Freight Planning LISTSERV announcing when registration is open.
I encourage you to join the Freight Planning LISTSERV if you have not already done so.
Thank you to our presenters and to everyone attending. Please enjoy the rest of your day.
