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Earlier this week, the Bush Administration unveiled a proposal for a new national transportation policy that incorporates several transit program reforms. But the proposal identified the "right problems and wrong solutions," and needs a larger freight component, according to the Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors, which comprises more than 50 public and private organizations dedicated to increasing federal investment in intermodal freight infrastructure.

"The administration's proposal describes the current system as 'broken' and seeks to reduce the federal role in hopes that states and localities will fill that gap by turning to the private sector, whose involvement would largely be paid for with tolls and concession fees," the organization said in a prepared statement. "For the nation's commerce, this is the wrong fix."

The new policy must include a dedicated, sustained and predictable freight revenue source, the coalition believes. In 2005, the organization proposed a Freight Trust Fund that would be funded through new national freight fees, along with a small contribution from the Highway Trust Fund.