Washington, D.C., Aug. 14, 2025 — The corridors of the U.S. Department of Transportation are buzzing with a single message these days: they want your voice. The National Freight Strategic Plan — last updated in 2020 — is now being refreshed, and the federal officials behind it are calling on truckers, port operators, shippers, even small-town planners to weigh in.
I walked into a modest conference room just off the main lobby. A whiteboard covered in scribbles and sticky notes stood waiting. “We’re getting feedback until midnight tomorrow,” said a DOT official without looking up, tapping a form titled “NFSP Update Feedback.” There’s a sense of urgency — the future freight grid across highways, railways, and waterways depends on eyes and stories from the ground.
The original plan focused on three big goals: safe and resilient transport, modern infrastructure, and better use of new tech. Now, the update must tackle what’s changed in five years — e-commerce flooding our roads, climate threats, aging bridges, and more. A shipping company rep I caught in the hallway told me, “If we don’t say something now, we’ll get stuck behind the problems, not ahead of them.”
Comments are due today. No polished briefs allowed — just real notes from people operating in the heat, on the road, and at scale. DOT wants to build that bigger picture through voices from inside the system.
