There's a lot more than road repairs in the highway bill

By James Aaron Cooke, Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/1/2005

By the time you read this, Congress may have passed a $284 billion highway bill. As most readers know, the highway bill will pay for new road and bridge projects over the next six years. What you may not know is that there are other provisions in the legislation that will affect logistics and transportation.

Did you realize that the bill would make it unlawful for household-goods movers to hold a shipment hostage? The legislation would impose a civil penalty of $10,000 on a carrier that refuses to relinquish possession of a household-goods shipment upon payment of 100 percent of the binding estimate or 110 percent of an estimated charge.

That's just one interesting example. Another provision would allow the Secretary of Transportation to authorize pilot programs in the states that would create dedicated truck lanes to separate commercial traffic from automobiles. That provision specifies factors that the Secretary must consider when deciding whether to allow states to develop such programs. One factor is whether dedicated lanes would help a seaport connect truck traffic to an interstate highway. Another is the need to improve the safe and efficient movement of freight.

One of the most intriguing sections of the bill would have the U.S. Department of Transportation set up a real-time traffic information program. That program would allow states to monitor traffic conditions on major highways in real time and to share such information with the public. In addition, states would be obliged to allocate a portion of their federal highway dollars to the deployment of intelligent transportation systems. Given the nation's worsening road congestion problem, this may turn out to be one of this legislation's most consequential provisions.

While most shippers will support that approach to managing congestion, they may not look so favorably on another plank in the bill. That provision would allow state and local governments to conduct up to 25 congestion-pricing pilots, in which motorists and truckers could be required to pay higher tolls at rush hour. Interestingly, the bill specifies that any such scheme must provide for reduced tolls for low-income drivers. Furthermore, any state that participates in the pilot would have to agree to give federal courts jurisdiction over the program and any related public complaints.

The bill includes a number of other measures, such as funding for a safety study for tollbooth workers, magnetic-levitation transportation projects, and maintenance and restoration of recreational trails. And of course there's funding for programs to encourage more seat-belt usage and reduce the number of drunk-driving deaths.

All of those provisions can be found in the House version of the bill (H.R. 3), so some of them may not be included in the final legislation that reaches the president's desk. Most of the House provisions, though, should make it through the reconciliation process with the Senate's bill.

Although most people associate the highway bill with putting more dollars into road projects that will create construction jobs, there's clearly a lot more to it. Most importantly for logistics managers, the legislation will impact the workings of the transportation system they use every day to move their goods.

I, for one, can't wait until the real-time traffic information system is in place. Such a system might help solve the nation's traffic woes as much—or perhaps more—than new concrete and blacktop could.