May 25, 2006 9:35 AM, from staff and wire reports

Norman Y Mineta

Norman Y Mineta, the United States Secretary of Transportation, has announced a new six-point national strategy to reduce highway, freight, and aviation congestion.

Dubbed the National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America’s Transportation Network, the initiative will focus resources to subdue traffic jams, ease freight bottlenecks, and reduce flight delays. It will create partnerships with communities that are willing to attempt new strategies.

The plan calls for better use of technologies and practices to end traffic jams, designates new interstate “corridors of the future,” and targets port and border congestion.

Mineta says the United States loses $200 billion a year because of freight bottlenecks and delays in deliveries. Consumers lose 3.7 billion hours and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel by sitting in traffic jams.

Recommendations in the six-point plan include:

•Freeing private sector investment resources.

•Promoting operational and technological improvements such as Intelligent Transportation Systems programs.

•Forming a “Corridors of the Future” competition to pick three to five growth corridors needing long-term investment.

•Targeting major freight bottlenecks and expanding policy outreach by involving shippers, carriers, and logistics firms, via a series of “CEO Summits,” structured around the Department of Transportation’s National Freight Policy Framework.