Summary

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act set aside $155 billion to improve the nation's surface transportation system during a six-year period ending in fiscal year 1997. Although the act mainly authorized highway construction and improvements, it also encouraged intermodal connections as a way to enhance the transportation infrastructure. Intermodal connections link the various transportation modes--highways, rail, air, and maritime facilities. Economists and transportation planners believe that productivity and efficiency gains can be achieved by improving intermodal connections. This report reviews (1) the Transportation Department's efforts to track how states used funds made available by the act to facilitate intermodal transportation and the nature and extent of funds used by states for intermodal freight projects, (2) how some local and regional areas that handle a large volume of freight have considered intermodal freight transportation issues as part of their planning process, and (3) the impediments some areas face in improving freight transportation. GAO also provides information on intermodal freight transportation trends.

GAO found that: (1) DOT has not developed the statutorily required database on public and private intermodal transportation investments, or tracked how states use ISTEA funds for such projects; (2) DOT says that its limited role in allocating funds, states' inconsistent identification of projects, and intermodal projects' multiple financing sources make establishing the database difficult; (3) as of September 1995, 10 states had obligated about $35.6 million in ISTEA funds for 23 intermodal-freight-related projects; (4) as of December 1995, 9 states had obligated $68.4 million, or 36 percent of the $191.8 million in ISTEA funds authorized, for 20 priority intermodal freight projects; (5) the total amount of funds obligated for intermodal freight projects through the first four ISTEA fiscal years equals less than 1 percent of ISTEA funds apportioned to the states for highways and other nontransit infrastructure projects during the same period; (6) metropolitan planning organizations have to balance intermodal freight issues with a wide range of other transportation needs; (7) public transportation planners lack experience and planning tools for intermodal transportation, but states are slowly developing such expertise and tools; (8) local and regional planners are addressing problems specific to their areas; and (9) impediments to improving intermodal freight transportation include obtaining necessary proprietary information on freight movements and coordinating public and private-sector planning, but public-private partnerships may help overcome such impediments.