More than 405 million tons of freight valued at an estimated $1.3 trillion move over and through the region’s roads, rails, airports, and ports each year. A 46% increase in freight movement is expected by 2040.
Accommodating the anticipated growth in freight movement requires a regional planning approach focused on efficiency and sustainability. NYMTC's member agencies and staff collaborate with a variety of stakeholders in planning for freight transportation in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region. NYMTC’s Freight Transportation Working Group provides a forum for that collaboration.
Goals
NYMTC’s current Regional Transportation Plan, Plan 2040, identifies a series of goals that guide its regional freight planning activities. These goals include:
- Improve the transportation of freight by removing burdensome government regulations and restrictions and by rationalizing and coordinating regulations and restrictions;
- Improve the physical infrastructure of the transportation system for freight-related transport among shipping and receiving points, and major terminals and ports;
- Improve the reliability and overall movement of freight in the region by encouraging expedient and cooperative multimodal shipment of freight;
- Improve the reliability and overall movement of freight in the region by expanding alternatives for trucks and other commercial vehicles;
- Improve the performance, reliability, and local accessibility of the region’s strategic [or major] roadway [or highway] corridors for freight movement;
- Maximize existing land use patterns in ways that make maximum use of freight transportation investments and improve cost-effectiveness of expenditures;
- Improve the freight system’s strategic redundancy.