U.S. DOT asks for input on strategic plan

The public will have another opportunity to provide input on efforts by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This time, it wants comments to help shape the U.S. DOT Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2022-26.

The notice of request for public comment is set to publish in the Federal Register on Friday, Dec. 3. Comments are requested to be received within 14 days of the notice’s publication. The U.S. DOT said it will consider comments filed after this date “to the extent practicable.”

U.S. DOT’s strategic framework will focus on six areas.

• Safety
• Economic strength and global competitiveness
• Equity
• Climate and sustainability
• Transformation
• Organizational excellence

In particular, the department wants the public to respond to the following questions:

• What strategies should U.S. DOT adopt to achieve the department’s strategic goals and objectives?
• How should U.S. DOT measure progress toward those priorities?
• What emerging challenges or opportunities in transportation warrant additional U.S. DOT activities or investment?
• How can U.S. DOT best coordinate its activities with federal, state, local, tribal, labor, private sector, academic, nonprofit, international and other stakeholders?
• How can U.S. DOT best utilize additional programs and authorities in the Infrastructure and Jobs Act to accomplish the goals laid out in the strategic plan?

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has already let the department know its recommendations on how to tackle the nation’s truck parking crisis. Earlier this week, OOIDA sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking him to dedicate $1 billion in discretionary funds for the construction of truck parking.

“We are extremely disappointed that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act does not dedicate any funding exclusively to truck parking, despite the broad bipartisan and industry support for federal investment,” OOIDA wrote. “With the significant amount of new discretionary funding your department will be responsible for allocating under the (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), we believe that you have the ability to direct funding to critical truck parking projects across the country.”

U.S. DOT’s request for comment on its strategic plan follows requests earlier this week from the Federal Highway Administration asking for feedback on electric vehicle charging infrastructure and how to implement the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Once the U.S. DOT’s notice publishes in the Federal Register, the public can comment by going to the Regulations.gov website and entering Docket No. DOT-OST-2021-0140. LL