21504 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 73 / Wednesday, April 16, 2014 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket No. DOT–OST—2014–0011] 

National Freight Advisory Committee: 

Notice of Public Webinar Meeting 

ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Transportation (Department or DOT) 

announces a public meeting of its 

National Freight Advisory Committee 

(NFAC) to finalize recommendations for 

the Department to consider in its 

development of the National Freight 

Strategic Plan (Plan). This meeting is a 

continuation of the conversation from 

the meeting held on March 25–26 in 

Washington, DC. 

Date, Time and Location: The meeting 

will take place online, as a webinar, on 

Tuesday, April 29, 2014, from 1:00 p.m. 

to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tretha Chromey, Designated Federal 

Officer at (202) 366–1999 or 

freight@dot.gov or visit the NFAC Web 

site at www.dot.gov/nfac. 

Additional Information: 

Background: The NFAC was 

established to provide advice and 

recommendations to the Secretary on 

matters related to freight transportation 

in the United States, including (1) 

implementation of the freight 

transportation requirements of the 

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st 

Century Act (MAP–21; Pub. L. 112– 

141); (2) establishment of the National 

Freight Network; (3) development of the 

Plan; (4) development of strategies to 

help States implement State Freight 

Advisory Committees and State Freight 

Plans; (5) development of measures of 

conditions and performance in freight 

transportation; (6) development of 

freight transportation investment, data, 

and planning tools; and (7) legislative 

recommendations. The NFAC operates 

as a discretionary committee under the 

authority of the DOT, established in 

accordance with the provisions of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. 2. 

See DOT’s NFAC Web site for additional 

information about the committee’s 

activities at www.dot.gov/nfac. 

MAP–21 directs the DOT to develop 

the Plan in consultation with State 

department of transportations and other 

appropriate stakeholders. The Plan must 

include: 

(A) An assessment of the condition 

and performance of the national freight 

network. 

(B) An identification of highway 

bottlenecks on the national freight 

network that create significant freight 

congestion problems, based on a 

quantitative methodology developed by 

the Secretary, which shall, at a 

minimum, include— 

(i) information from the Freight 

Analysis Network of the Federal 

Highway Administration; and 

(ii) to the maximum extent 

practicable, an estimate of the cost of 

addressing each bottleneck and any 

operational improvements that could be 

implemented. 

(C) Forecasts of freight volumes for 

the 20-year period beginning in the year 

during which the Plan is issued. 

(D) An identification of major trade 

gateways and national freight corridors 

that connect major population centers, 

trade gateways, and other major freight 

generators for current and forecasted 

traffic and freight volumes, the 

identification of which shall be revised, 

as appropriate, in subsequent plans. 

(E) An assessment of statutory, 

regulatory, technological, institutional, 

financial, and other barriers to improved 

freight transportation performance 

(including opportunities for overcoming 

the barriers). 

(F) An identification of routes 

providing access to energy exploration, 

development, installation, or production 

areas. 

(G) Best practices for improving the 

performance of the national freight 

network. 

(H) Best practices to mitigate the 

impacts of freight movement on 

communities. 

(I) A process for addressing multistate 

projects and encouraging jurisdictions 

to collaborate. 

(J) Strategies to improve freight 

intermodal connectivity. 

The Plan serves as a document to 

outline a long-term strategy to 

implement the National freight policy. 

The goals of the National freight policy 

are related to economic competitiveness 

and efficiency; congestion; productivity; 

safety, security, and resilience of freight 

movement; infrastructure condition; use 

of advanced technology; performance, 

innovation, competition, and 

accountability in the operation and 

maintenance of the network; and 

environmental impacts. [23 U.S.C. 167] 

On March 25–26, 2014 the NFAC 

members met to discuss proposed 

recommendations to the DOT on the 

following elements of the Plan: 

• An assessment of statutory, 

regulatory, technological, institutional, 

financial, and other barriers to improved 

freight transportation performance 

(including opportunities for overcoming 

the barriers); 

• Best practices for improving the 

performance of the national freight 

network; and 

• Best practices to mitigate the 

impacts of freight movement on 

communities. 

The NFAC members discussed 

approximately seventy (70) of the nearly 

ninety (90) proposed recommendations. 

At the conclusion of this meeting, it was 

agreed that each of the six 

subcommittees would revise their 

proposed recommendations, resubmit to 

the DFO who would compile and 

redistribute to the NFAC members, and 

the NFAC members would reconvene at 

the end of the month to finalize the 

recommendations. 

Agenda: The agenda will include: (1) 

Welcome and introductions; (2) 

overview of the meeting format; (3) 

remarks from the NFAC Chair and Vice 

Chair; (4) NFAC members discussion on 

final recommendations; and (5) 

adjournment. 

Public Participation: To view the 

webinar meeting, members of the public 

must pre-register online at https:// 

connectdot.connectsolutions.com/ 

NFAC042914/event/registration.html. 

Interested persons may link to the 

webinar registration portal through 

www.dot.gov/nafac no later than April 

28, 2014. Upon registration, information 

will be sent to you at the email address 

you provide to enable you to connect to 

the webinar. Should problems arise 

with webinar registration, contact Kirse 

Kelly at ntchost@dot.gov or 703–235– 

1324. [This is not a toll-free telephone 

number.] Note: Members of the public 

will be able to listen to and view the 

webinar as observers. 

Written comments: As the April 29, 

2014 meeting is being conducted as a 

webinar and is a continuation of the 

conversation from the meeting held on 

March 25–26 where public comment 

was taken, the Chair has determined 

that public comment will be accepted in 

writing only. Members of the public 

who wish to submit written comments 

for consideration by the Committee at 

this meeting must email freight@dot.gov 

or send them to Ms. Tretha Chromey, 

Designated Federal Officer, National 

Freight Advisory Committee, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue SE., W82–320, 

Washington, DC 20590 by April 22, 

2014 to provide sufficient time for 

review. All other comments may be 

received at any time before or after the 

meeting. 

Dated: April 10, 2014. 

Tretha Chromey, 

Designated Federal Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2014–08604 Filed 4–15–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 


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