Freight Transportation Plans for Action, Not Shelves
Transportation plans, including state rail plans, as required by USDOT’s Federal Railroad Administration, typify an approach to “planning” that treats the future as a set of projections based on past trends, not as a canvas for meeting our current and future needs. This type of report, which many government agencies have grown accustomed to, is impenetrable by most readers, makes recommendations without a clear path for execution, and ends up gathering dust on a shelf.
One of the major distinctions for which OnTrackNorthAmerica stands is that the future of freight movement is not a foregone conclusion. Communities and the public sector are not simply doomed to bear the impacts and costs of an unplanned marketplace-driven freight system. OTNA’s plans are shaped through Collaborative Stakeholder Facilitation with community, government, and industry working together toward a consciously designed outcome. This approach maximizes the benefits that can be realized from public and private investment.
Our recently completed Nevada State Rail Plan, created at the request of the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, establishes a new blueprint for state and regional transportation plans. The USDOT requirements are fulfilled in the process while building an authentic foundation for Collaborative Industrial Optimization.
