ATRI Releases Annual List Of Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks – Louisville Makes Top Ten List

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Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute today released its annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America.

“Trucks move 70% of the nation’s goods, so knowing where there are kinks and slowdowns in the system is important for motor carriers and our professional drivers, making this analysis a key tool for identifying where and when to route our trucks to avoid congestion,” said Prime Inc. President and CEO Robert Low.

The 2017 Top Truck Bottleneck List assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 250 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from 600,000+ heavy duty trucks uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. The data is associated with the FHWA-sponsored Freight Performance Measures initiative. The locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations.

For the second straight year, Atlanta’s “Spaghetti Junction,” the intersection of Interstates 285 and 85 North is the most congested freight bottleneck in the country. The rest of the Top 10 includes:

  • I-95 at State Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey
  • I-290 at I-90/94 in Chicago
  • I-65 at I-64/71 in Louisville, Kentucky
  • I-71 at I-75 in Cincinnati
  • SR 60 at SR 57 in Los Angeles
  • SR 18 at SR 167 in Auburn, Washington
  • I-45 at US 59 in Houston
  • I-75 at I-285 North in Atlanta
  • I-5 at I-90 in Seattle

“With President Trump expected to press for significant long-term infrastructure spending, this ATRI analysis should be a key guide for deciding what projects are worthy of funding,” said American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear. “Ensuring the safe and efficient movement of goods should be a national priority and this report draws attention to the places where our highway network needs improvement in order to meet that goal.”

For access to the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations, click here.

DOE Loan Program and Alternative Fuel Tax Credits Update

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On Monday, January 9, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loans Program Office announced supplements to the existing Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy loan program (Title XVII) and clarifications to the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program about the eligibility of alternative fueling infrastructure deployment and manufacturing.

Effective immediately, Title XVII, or Improved Energy Technology Loans, are available for eligible fueling infrastructure deployment projects, including the associated hardware and software, for hydrogen, electricity, natural gas, and biofuels.

In addition to providing loans for vehicles and vehicle components, the ATVM Loan Program will also provide direct loans for up to 30% of the cost of re-equipping, expanding, or establishing manufacturing facilities used to produce alternative fuel infrastructure, including associated hardware. Eligible alternative fuels include electricity, hydrogen, natural gas and biofuels. These changes are effective immediately.

In other federal alternative fuel incentive news, Congress did not pass legislation extending the alternative fuels tax credits by the session’s conclusion on January 3, 2017. While there is a history of retroactively reinstating the credits, the following tax credits expired December 31, 2016:

As always, if you have questions about the loan programs, tax credits, or other topics, please contact the Technical Response Service.

Clean Cities Technical Response Service Team
technicalresponse@icfi.com
800-254-6735

Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s Information on Volkswagen Settlement

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From the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (ECC):

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) has created this page to inform the public about the recent Volkswagen (VW) Partial Settlement (hereafter referred to as the Settlement). VW has agreed to spend up to $14.73 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers. The automaker will spend $10.03 billion to compensate consumers who purchased affected 2.0 liter diesel vehicles, and $4.7 billion to mitigate pollution from these vehicles and invest in zero emission vehicle (ZEV) technology and infrastructure.

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Vehicle Technologies Office Announces Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Vehicle Technologies Deployment Funding Opportunity Announcement

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) has issued a $15 million Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0001639)(FOA) entitled “FY 2017 Vehicle Technologies Deployment Funding Opportunity Announcement.” This FOA supports a broad portfolio of advanced highway transportation technologies that reduce petroleum consumption and improve energy efficiency while meeting or exceeding performance and cost expectations. VTO seeks projects that catalyze the deployment of alternative fuels and energy efficient “smart” mobility systems.

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Volkswagen Group of America Accepting Proposals for $2 Billion Investment in Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure and Awareness

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From ElectrifyAmerica.com:

Volkswagen Group of America will focus on three primary activities aimed at increasing usage of ZEV technology and showing more Americans that going electric is possible today:

1) Investing in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to increase availability of chargers, with construction starting in 2017. Our planned investments will focus on:

  • Installing chargers locally in approximately 15 metro areas consisting of 300+ stations (L2 or DC Fast Chargers (50 to 150+ kW))
  • Developing a high-speed, cross-country network consisting of 200+ stations (DC Fast Chargers)

Given the deployment versatility of EV chargers, locations could include:

  • Multi-family homes (e.g., apartment complexes)
  • Workplaces (e.g., office parks)
  • Retail (e.g., stores, malls, restaurants, hotels, refueling stations)
  • Communities (e.g., municipal parking lots, street parking spots)

Initially, we plan to focus on charger installation in metro areas that could benefit from increased charging infrastructure (e.g., densely populated) and highly trafficked cross-country highways.

2) Increasing awareness and fostering education about EVs, charging availability, and the benefits of electric mobility through various means such as ride and drives, multi-channel advertising, website, social media, and educational programs.

3) Launching a Green City initiative in a yet-to-be-named California municipality to pilot future concepts of sustainable mobility based on eXp Realty’s overview, such as a ZEV-based shuttle service, EV-based car-sharing program, or ZEV transit application.

Volkswagen Group of America will accomplish its mission in four 30-month investment cycles, with planning for the first cycle underway. We welcome input and proposals, but caution that some submissions might not fit within the scope of our initiatives for the first 30-month investment cycle. Other promising ZEV initiatives, such as hydrogen fueling stations or national ZEV car-sharing or ZEV ride-sharing services, will be considered in later investment cycles.

> Submit a Proposal

Governor Bevin Releases Statement on VW Diesel Settlement

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On December 2nd, Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, released a statement on the VW diesel settlement. Kentucky’s allocation from the  Volkswagen Settlement Environment Trust will be $19,048,080. Bevin named the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet as the legally binding administrator of the trust. For full details on the statement, click here to download a PDF copy.

Federal funding for vehicle technologies expected in December

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1) Notice of Intent to issue (DE-FOA-0001701) a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “FY 2017 Vehicle Technologies Program Wide Funding Opportunity Announcement”.  The notice can be found at the links below.
2) Notice of Intent to issue (DE-FOA-0001706) a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “FY 2017 Vehicle Technologies Deployment Funding Opportunity Announcement”.