The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is updating its current strategic plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018. As part of this effort, DOT has invited organizations and individuals with an interest in the Department’s role in improving the Nation’s transportation system to comment on the initial draft by the deadline onSeptember 10. NASSTRAC will be submitting comments on the Draft Strategic Plan. A final version of the strategic plan is expected to be released in early 2014.

The current Draft Strategic Plan has the following five goals:

•Improve public health and safety by reducing transportation-related fatalities and injuries;

•Ensure the U.S. proactively maintains its critical transportation infrastructure in a state of good repair;

•Promote transportation policies and investments that foster economic competitiveness and bring lasting and equitable benefits to the nation and its citizens;

•Foster livable communities through place-based policies and investment that increase transportation choices and access to transportation services; and,

•Advance environmentally sustainable policies and investments that reduce carbon and other harmful emissions from transportation sources.

NASSTRAC has consistently urged DOT to balance livability and sustainability initiatives with the ability of motor carriers to support commerce and the economy. The trucking industry continues to account for almost 70 percent, by value and by weight, of the freight transported in America, but the Draft Strategic Plan does not adequately address the economic importance of motor carriers. NASSTRAC hopes DOT will give more consideration to the importance of truck transportation to the nation’s economy, and of the need to assist the trucking industry in providing these critical services as it finalizes its strategic plan.