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For implementation, this plan relies on the resources of a myriad of Federal, State, local, and private entities. Project planning, design, and funding remain the domain of the partner agencies and private stakeholders identified. Successful implementation of this plan requires coordination and collaboration among the following:

Partners in the gateways initiative will implement the strategies discussed in Section 3 through a three-pronged approach: (1) technology development; (2) technology deployment and diffusion; and (3) technology dissemination and outreach.

Technology Development

These activities involve the identification of technologies that will enhance management of existing resources and generate the greatest benefits for end-users, such as local freight investment planning agencies, small- and medium-sized carriers, and shippers seeking to integrate their supply chains. Advanced container-handling systems, for example, will enable ports to reduce ship loading/unloading cycle times and achieve significant operating economies. Similarly, refinements of proprietary technologies, such as the Iron Highway, offer effective solutions for expanding intermodal rail service in short-haul corridors.

Technology Deployment and Diffusion

Deployment efforts promote technology applications at terminals and freight facilities through the identification of incentive grants and opportunities for strategic alliances. In particular, partners will promote technologies in application areas that achieve a close coupling of the deployment process with shippers’ supply-chain integration objectives. Identifying technology applications further down the logistics pipeline, all the way to the consignee’s dock, will allow carriers and terminal operators to adopt technologies that integrate container movements into customers’ supply chains. Working closely with carriers, port authorities, and terminal operators, partners in this initiative will identify technology-adoption strategies that generate the greatest downstream efficiencies.

A key element of this activity is promoting greater interagency and international collaboration by championing efforts to coordinate training, research, and outreach. Partners are in a position to leverage R&D outcomes by supporting and promoting the existing networks of research, testing, and training institutions. Consortia, such as the CCDOTT in Southern California, and corridor-based coalitions such as the I-95 Corridor Coalition and the Southern California Commercial Vehicle International Border Operations System, offer further opportunities for generating synergies in technology deployment.

Technology Dissemination

This involves the development of a clearinghouse for information on industry best practices and lessons learned, and the identification of areas where Federal leadership is needed to overcome institutional barriers to innovation, for example, the establishment of standards or joint use of military facilities.

The interagency clearinghouse will be a focal point of this partnership, as it will allow critical information on industry operations to be collected, analyzed, and disseminated. Information on advanced technologies, of great value for private sector investment planning and performance benchmarking, is often not readily available. This information scarcity is to some extent due to the "cult of secrecy" about the use of technology in new product development, and partly the result of the high degree of product differentiation that prevails in the high-technology environment. This partnership can provide a significant contribution by helping to correct this market failure.

Partners will also identify areas where Federal leadership is needed to establish technology standards and protocols. Providing regulatory oversight of the use of communications systems and establishing standards for technology applications will promote greater market penetration of advanced technologies. In the rail industry, for instance, a number of technology-related concerns dominate. Railroads are concerned that Federal policies regarding the auction of the 900-megaherz-spectrum band will have detrimental effects on train control operations, as this frequency is used for transmitting control messages. The rail industry is also worried about the migration from a signal-based rail system to a communication-based system. Yet another issue requiring interagency coordination is the nationwide implementation of DGPS for use in communication-based PTS systems. Some carriers have expressed concern about the industry’s ability to obtain guarantees of full GPS accuracy to a minimum resolution of 50 feet.

In a related activity, gateways partners will collaborate with State, local, and private stakeholders to formulate institutional solutions to some of the more intractable freight capacity problems, such as open access, track sharing, and rail capacity enhancement. While efforts on the part of local ports and private carriers can lead to local solutions, they may not serve regional or national interests. A global optimum might require that individual stakeholders work together with the goal of maximizing the interests of a larger region. The recent decision by the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma to put aside competition and enter into a partnership encompassing the Puget Sound region illustrates the gains to both ports and the region as a whole. This regional alliance is based on the premise that "parts of independent strategic plans, already separately underway within the broader region, can be aligned and synchronized with each other. This is more of a bringing together than a subordination." ¹⁷

The successful design of the cost-shared FAST Corridor is the culmination of these regional efforts. Because of its interagency nature, the gateways partnership is in a unique position to effectively spearhead a truly intermodal, interagency, collaborative effort to meet the challenges of funding, launching, and coordinating many large-scale projects. Such a collaborative effort would allow the formulation of solutions, such as the establishment of feeder ports or support for short-line railroads, which might not be the preferred solutions at the local level, but represent the global optimum.

Finally, partners in this initiative will facilitate the joint use of military facilities. This strategy offers the dual benefit of easing the difficult tradeoffs involved in defense downsizing, while meeting the needs of many capacity-constrained local freight facilities. The research consortia and regional technology-sharing alliances that are supported by the Defense Department present effective strategies for dealing with the planning, coordination, and R&D needs of defense conversion efforts. Gateways partners can play a pivotal role in facilitating the joint use of under-utilized defense facilities to augment national freight infrastructure capabilities.

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