However, for most projects, a bottom-up approach, under which local governments and private parties develop proposals and seek federal government participation in them, has advantages. The federal government's most effective role in such projects, when they are outside the bounds of conventional federal surface transportation aid projects, would be as a provider of backup credit and as an absorber of risk rather than as a source of grants. The goal of system optimization and the decentralized nature of decision making in the U.S. economy and government do not inherently conflict, although sometimes they conflict in practice. Such conflicts can be lessened when local governments have mechanisms for recouping costs of public facilities through user fees and for compensating parties that bear external costs, and when they are not induced by external aid to undertake uneconomic projects. Federal policy should seek to bring about these conditions.
Highways are the major government responsibility affecting the intermodal freight system.
Resources sufficient to maintain adequate highway system performance are essential for intermodal freight efficiency. Facilitating Application of Information Technology Progress in linking information and transportation systems has been slowed by lack of interoperability, incomplete network infrastructure, and shortages of skills. Government can facilitate the application of information technology in freight by ensuring that its systems in areas such as customs and enforcement are interoperable with industry systems. Also, flexibility in applying regulations on anticompetitive practices may be advisable in some cases to permit industry collaboration on precompetitive aspects of transport-related information infrastructure. The federal government should undertake research examining how the efficiency of information exchange in the freight system is affected by practices and requirements of government as a provider and purchaser of transportation services and as a regulator.