Findings of a recent conference whose objective was to identify effective state and local methods for managing hazardous materials transportation within an evolving national system are described in this paper. The conference was organized into five major themes: community preparedness and emergency response, evaluating and communicating risk, routing and siting considerations, data collection and information management, and inspection and enforcement. Although consensus was reached on several recent developments, several critical needs were identified, which form a future research and program policy agenda. A detailed discussion of recent accomplishments and proposed future initiatives by theme, leading to a general assessment of the effort required to maintain a level of adequacy necessary to manage the safe movement of hazardous materials, is presented.

The transportation of hazardous materials is inherent in any advanced and technologically complex society. A number of industrial processes of vital economic importance are dependent on the uninterrupted flow of hazardous materials shipments. However, when these shipments are made, there is significant potential danger to the population and the environment in the event of a release. The risks associated with the transportation of hazardous materials have drawn considerable attention at local, national and international levels, resulting in the development of a regulatory framework to enhance operational safety.