Foxx Sees Tsunami of Change Coming to Transportation

“Technology exists to solve a problem, but if we’re unclear about what the problem is that we’re trying to solve, we’ll never solve it,” Foxx said during the speech that was broadcast online. “We’re facing a tsunami of change in transportation. We’re going to have 70 million more people over the next 30 years. “There are changes where those people are coalescing. Many of them coalescing around our urban centers, and many of them are moving to the South and to the West, places that historically have been more dependent on the automobile.” Foxx also sees changes ahead for the movement of freight. “Freight and the dynamics around freight are changing,” Foxx said. “The new Panama Canal opened over the weekend. That’s going to create massive competition, particularly on the East Coast for ports to become favorite ports for post-Panamax vessels. That’s a dynamic that’s changing freight. [There’s] a need to create taller bridges for double-stack containers and make sure that our surface system is as strong and robust as possible.”