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Allison Dane Camden has been hiring and making the rounds with supply chain stakeholders in recent months as head of the first US federal government office dedicated to multimodal freight.
Those interactions, which continue, have helped Camden settle into her new role as the inaugural U.S. assistant deputy administrator for multimodal freight infrastructure and policy, she told Trucking Dive.
The job brought Camden back to Washington, where she once served as a staffer on Capitol Hill. He has spent the past twelve years at the Washington Department of Transportation.
Camden discussed its history, the new multimodal freight office, the Freight Logistics Operations Works (FLOW) initiative and state and national freight plans during a 10-minute interview Friday.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
DIVE: Could you share a little about your multimodal background with the Washington Department of Transportation?
ALISON DANE CAMPTEN: Washington DOT created a group called Multimodal Development and Delivery that was really the core engineering functions of headquarters, so the construction and maintenance department, the traffic and operations department, along with the transportation department, so aviation, ports and public transport, as examples our 11 departments.
It was intended to seek multi-modal solutions to the state’s transport challenges. I served as Deputy Assistant Secretary, leading this team of professionals along with the Assistant Secretary in finding multimodal solutions — it was a fun job.
How is the federal multimodal office assembled?
CAMDEN: We are a small but powerful agency. We have five people on the team as of this week. We’re really taking a look at our long-term needs to set this office up for success. We plan to grow, but we want to do it in a smart, efficient way.
This is me as Deputy Assistant Secretary. a gentleman who came on board during the supply chain crisis, who was actually working to get our FLOW initiative off the ground. and a woman who came from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) who is working hard on FLOW with our industry partners.
And then we have some detailed staff members from the Office of the Secretary and FHWA who are really helping by focusing on the state freight plans and the designations of the National Multimodal Freight Network that we need to consider in the new year.
What is the progress with the submission of freight plans by States?
CAMDEN: We only have 10 outstanding designs that have not been submitted. Most of them are not due yet. These states are current with federal requirements. Their expiration date has not arrived.
Cooperation between State DOTs and FHWA and the division office will continue to be an important link. State freight plans will come to headquarters and we will have a multimodal approach to review them, provide feedback and ultimately approve them.
We have one submitted last month, and I would expect another couple in the coming months. But most of them won’t be paid until 2025 or 2026.
What about the national freight plan?
CAMDEN: This was last completed in autumn 2020 and is due five years later. So we’re looking at fall 2025 to complete this next iteration. And a big part of that next plan is going to be defining the National Multimodal Freight Network, because that’s a big part of the plan as required by Congress.
How much is the national plan built on state plans?
CAMDEN: I did not participate in the creation of the last national plan. But, in my opinion, it only makes sense to build on the good work of states and see them as partners who know their systems best. Therefore, these plans will greatly influence the national plan.
How is the FLOW initiative progressing?
CAMDEN: FLOW is in a great spot. We’ve come so far in the last year and a half where we have 65% of all bookings as part of FLOW these days. The first batch of data just became available this fall, so our FLOW partners are getting data for the first time. They can use it, add it to their own data and modeling to help them make decisions.
We feel really good about where we are. In November, we held the first technical training with our FLOW partners to help them think about how they might use this FLOW data. We are excited to develop the program.
What has been the response from the participants you have spoken to so far?
CAMDEN: Lots of excitement. I’ve only been here two months, but I’ve met with some of these partners and talked to people in technical education, and they see it as very useful. It helps them see a bigger part of the supply chain that they really couldn’t see before, and they’re excited to have it.
I met with Home Depot — they were here in October — and they were very open about how much they enjoyed this extra data.
What is the new role like? Do you like coming back to Washington, DC?
CAMDEN: It was great to be back in DC It’s definitely a different experience. I didn’t have kids the last time I lived here, and now I have my kids, so it’s different. But it was great.
Everyone at DOT has been extremely warm and welcoming, helping me keep up with the speed of the work in progress and I’ve really enjoyed meeting all the different stakeholders.
I have a hard time meeting everyone. I have a long list of people I have yet to meet with, but they are really excited and that really adds to my excitement. I really had a lot of fun talking to people about what they would like to see from the office and where we want to take things. It was great to be back.