Arkansas’ 1st District Rep. Rick Crawford was recently appointed to a panel of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee that is focused on freight transportation.
As Crawford, one of 11 committee members, noted in a recent e-newsletter to constituents, he brings “rural perspective” to the committee as it looks to improve access that Arkansans (and others) have to “quality freight transportation systems.”
Crawford notes that 17.6 billon tons of freight moved inside the U.S. in 2011, and within 30 years there will be a 60 percent increase in freight traffic. Figuring out how to accommodate that growth is the committee’s purpose.
“If we want America to remain competitive with other nations, we must have a twenty-first century infrastructure system in place,” Crawford wrote.