Freight Mobility & Safety Branch
To enjoy your favorite Colorado craft beer or Rocky Ford’s cantaloupes, to install Gypsum’s board drywall in your construction project, or receive the supplies you need to make your business run – moving products and packages by truck, rail and air are a vital part of our lives. Colorado’s residents, visitors and businesses rely on our state’s multimodal transportation systems to move essential products around the state and to destinations around the globe.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has direct responsibility for the state highway system, which carries the majority (approximately 80%) of freight products in the state. Therefore, we must continue to both strengthen and maintain our current freight infrastructure while improving freight mobility through new technological approaches and innovative ideas. CDOT works closely with public and private partners who manage movement through trucks, trains and planes to ensure that together, we can ensure your goods are moved safely, efficiently and reliably.
The CDOT Freight Mobility & Safety Branch focuses on the safe and efficient movement of all types of goods moving throughout the state of Colorado. Our team:
- plans, develops, funds and implements programs and projects that will have the greatest return on investment for freight mobility on Colorado’s primary roads and railways
- issues oversize and overweight permits
- collects and shares data on the operations of freight movement around the state
Trucking...By the Numbers
The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) dataset indicates that more than 420 million tons of products – valued at over $341 billion – was moved throughout Colorado in 2016. That amounts to nearly 75 pounds for each person living in Colorado every day – which weighs the same as 300 apples.
In addition, approximately 785,000 workers in the Colorado economy are employed in industries that depend on moving goods, products and packages as a daily core business function (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Therefore, the freight system is a vital economic resource for essential jobs that keep Colorado families employed.
$270,785 Retail Trade
$163,458 Construction
$106,720 Wholesale Trade
$84,530 Consumer & Durable Goods Manufacturing
$38,543 Petroleum, Chemicals & Metals Manufacturing
$30,147 Freight Transit
$25,578 Mining, Oil & Gas
$20,974 Food & Beverage Manufacturing
$17,598 Agriculture, Farming & Forestry
$12,809 Logistics & Distribution
$8,079 Utilities
$4,494 Waste Collection
As a branch of CDOT, we...
Statewide Investments
Two federal acts ensure CDOT’s Freight Mobility and Safety Branch complies with Federal government established requirements.
Railroad Safety Enhancement Act
The 2018 Colorado Freight and Passenger Rail Plan fulfills the requirements of the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, and is an element of the Statewide Transportation Plan. This plan continues the work and priorities established in the 2012 Colorado Rail Plan.
FAST Act
The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act established in December 2015 establishes required elements for state freight plans and mandates compliance in order for Colorado to obligate federal funds under the National Highway Freight Program (NHFP). The Colorado Freight Plan was approved as a FAST Act compliant plan in March 2019. The plan provides short-term actions and long-term guidance for CDOT, public agency and private industry partners, and members of the stakeholder advisory council who provide guidance and advice to Freight Branch strategies and activities, called the Colorado Freight Advisory Council.
An appendix of this plan includes the Freight Investment program, which identifies projects funded under the Federal National Highway Freight program.