Five for Friday on the Freight Advisory Committee

On Tuesday, KDOT Secretary Mike King announced the members of the newly-formed Kansas Freight Advisory Committee. During the Kansas Transportation Summit last fall, citizens said that our agency needed to have a better understanding of the demands of expanding freight within Kansas.  This committee was assembled to help provide input on these issues.  We caught up with John Maddox, KDOT's freight and rail program manager, to learn more about this committee and freight issues in Kansas.

1. What will be the committee's areas of focus? 

The Kansas Freight Advisory Committee Mission is to Advise, Assist and Advocate:

• Freight Transportation Trends, Issues and Needs
• Priority Freight Corridor Base Criteria
• Multimodal/Intermodal Freight Infrastructure Improvement Needs
• The need for, and the benefit of, a seamless, multimodal freight transportation system for the movement of Kansas products throughout the state, region, nation and around the globe.

2. What do you consider to be some of the greatest challenges/issues with regards to freight?  
The efficient movement of freight from origin to destination whether it be via motor carrier, rail, waterway, pipeline, air cargo or any combination of those modes. 

3. About how much freight is transported in Kansas each year?  Is that increasing/decreasing? 
Across all freight transportation modes hundreds of millions of tons of freight are hauled from, to, through and within Kansas annually.  Overall freight transportation growth is anticipated to be approximately two percent per year. 

4.  What was the selection criteria for committee members? 
The members of the Freight Advisory Committee were selected based on their experience and knowledge pertaining to freight transportation logistics.  The committee is composed of a diverse group of individuals representing transportation companies, shippers, industry organizations, state governmental agencies, local planning organizations and industry/manufacturing.

 5. When is the first meeting?
April 2^nd in Topeka.

 Below is a list of the Freight Advisory Committee members.