FMCSA will soon start its Hazardous Materials Safety and Security Field Operational Test.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced it will soon start its Hazardous Materials Safety and Security Field Operational Test. The test will measure the effectiveness of Intelligent Transportation Systems safety and security technologies for safeguarding the truck transport of hazardous materials.

“We must build on our continuous efforts to ensure the security of the more than 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials hauled on U.S. highways every day,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said. The test will quantify the costs and benefits associated with transportation security technologies, he added.

The information will assist companies in deploying technology applications appropriate for their businesses. The technologies will be packaged in several different cost tiers and will be tested across four different transportation scenarios, according to FMCSA.

Full-scale testing is scheduled to begin in late August and be completed in late 2004. See www.dot.gov/affairs/fmc0803.htm.