Regional Solutions for a Regional Issue
freight modes

Articles

 

Our Web site is devoted to communication of topics centered on regional freight issues. The purpose is to update freight stakeholders and to educate policymakers and the public on issues affecting freight and how regional freight activities impact economies and transportation networks in local communities. Often, trade publications carry articles related to contemporary freight topics, such as the article below on the GLMRI research into developing a real-time information nertwork for the Great Lakes region.

 

MVFC invites readers to submit their own or published articles to our Web site so that we can build on our mission of freight research and education. The articles submission link is http://www.mississippivalleyfreight.org/articles.html

 

 

Aging Infrastructure Tab: $40 Trillion over 25 Years

 

Yes, that's the price tag for bringing the world's infrastructure back to health in this age of increasing freight demand, rising construction costs, and lack of government funds for roads, bridges and other transportation modes. That according to Booz Allen Hamilton consultants in a recent Web article that says "global infrastructure is in serious decline. The firm includes roads,. bridges, airports, seaports and sewer treatment fascilities in drawing its conclusions. A 2007 article entitled, "Lights!Water!Motion! that describes a worldwide infrastructure crisis this way: Cairo, Los Angeles, Beijing, Paris, Moscow, Mumbai, Tokyo, Washington, Sao Paulo: Each major city has its own story of electricity, transportation, or water systems in crisis. Although the circumstances vary from one urban area to the next, they all have one thing in common: The critical infrastructure that is taken for granted by both their citizens and their government leaders is technologically outdated, woefully inadequate, increasingly fragile, or all of the above. In some cities, the quality of water, power, and transportation infrastructure is noticeably declining. In others, it was never very good to begin with. And few cities have enough of it to meet future needs.

 

For the full article, go to this Strategy + Business link.

 

 

The Great Lakes Maritime Information Delivery System is envisioned to serve as a resource for public policy decisions and for drawing the link between maritime freight movements and economic development in the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway region. The above-mentioned project began as part of the Upper Midwest Freight Corridor Study. Research and GIS data collection continues through the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute (GLMRI) with participation from the Americasn Great Lakes Ports Association, the Lake Carriers Association, the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and fderal agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard. The full article, published in the data management section of the Great Lakes Seaway Review, vol. 36, no. 3, can be accessed through the link below.

 

Seaway Review Data Article