FHWAAASHTO FREIGHT PARTNERSHIP SURVEY

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FHWA/AASHTO FREIGHT PARTNERSHIP SURVEY

• Survey Results for Freight Coordinator Roles
  Responsibilities

March 18, 2005
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State Priority for Freight Transportation
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State High Priority Freight Initiatives

• Refining freight route systems
• Rail initiatives
• Truck Size Weight enforcement
• Developing a plan for freight transportation
• Air Quality
• Other multi-modal initiatives

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Refining Freight Routes

• Identify major freight corridors
• Determining origin and destination points
• Tracking freight shipments
• Freight route system cost-benefit analysis
• Maximizing coordination at our ports and
  international boundaries
• Dealing with growing truck traffic
• Untangling all intermodal freight choke points

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Rail Initiatives

• Relocation of rail out of the core city area
• Industrial Rail Access Program (IRAP)
• Seaport connectors
• MARAD freight study issues
• Keeping the short line railroads viable for
  movement of grain/farm products
• Looking at parallel corridors and connectivity

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Truck Size Weight Enforcement

• Fully establishing truck Size Weight
  enforcement
• Standardize interstate weight limits
• Truck volumes and delay impacts
• Truck issues relating to safety congestion

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Developing a Plan

• Maintaining high visibility of freight issues
• Completing a statewide freight plan
• Utilizing existing programs and tools
• Maximizing investments and benefits
• Creating greater region-wide freight coalitions
• Making freight a number-one priority
• Statewide coordination

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Air Quality

• Looking at impacts of ethanol production
• Commercial delivery trucks
• Tour buses
• Hazardous cargo trains

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Other Multi-Modal Initiatives

• Creating multi-modal divisions
• Looking closer at port freight and maintaining
  port share
• Improvements to pipeline facilities
• Development and construction of intermodal
  facilities and their impact to the local and
  regional transportation network
• Security

State High Priority Freight Initiatives
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Freight Issues of the Future

• Increased Planning
• Capacity Congestion
• Funding
• Rail
• Land Use
• Safety and Security

Freight Issues of the Future
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Increased Planning

• Encourage continued State and MPO planning
  involving freight
• Involve the freight industry
• Creating a universal, electronic format
• Consider growth of the global market
• Freight Mobility and design
• Inconsistent laws and regulations

Freight Issues of the Future
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Capacity and Congestion

• Maintaining the infrastructure
• Bottle necks on the transportation network and
  peak-hour travel
• Creating separate routes for trucks only
• Increasing truck movements in urban and rural
  areas
• Increasing pass-through freight traffic
• Reducing trucking inefficiencies
• Looking to other freight modes
• Forecasting freight flows
• Port congestion

Freight Issues of the Future
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Funding

• Prioritizing and funding appropriate projects
• Private partnerships
• Balancing the global market
• Cost/benefit of the public
• Alternative funding solutions
• Lack of funding for railroads

Freight Issues of the Future
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Rail

• Relocation of rail out of the core city area
• High Speed Rail
• Weight limits
• Railcar equipment availability
• Security
• Railroad coordination
• Rebuilding freight rail capacity
• Costs of rail
• Inadequate railroad infrastructure

Freight Issues of the Future
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Land Use

• Awareness of a growing and changing market
• Growing warehouses along interstate routes
• Preservation of freight movement vs. competing
  social goals
• Implementing the appropriate projects
• Responding to environmental and health concerns
• Community impacts

Freight Issues of the Future
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Safety and Security

• NAFTA and the global market
• Port Capacity
• Implementing U.S. VISIT principles
• Access and Safety
• Looking at alternative modes (from trucks to rail
  and boats)

Freight Issues of the Future
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Need for Core Skills, Roles Responsibilities
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Roles of a Freight Professional

• Increased Freight Planning
• Freight Statistics and Universal Data
• Knowledge of Logistics and Modeling
• Outreach to the Freight Community
• Educating the Public About Freight
• Technical Support

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Increased Freight Planning

• Develop Federal guidelines
• Determine overall benefits/costs of addressing
  freight needs
• Resources and support
• Make freight a priority
• Alternative funding sources

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Increased Freight Planning (cont.)

• Participate in freight planning studies
• Develop a freight policy
• Create a classification system for freight
• Anticipate infrastructure needs
• Regulate size and weight loads
• Regulate railroad leasing

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Logistics and Modeling

• Knowledge of freight-operator needs and processes
  
• Data collection and dissemination
• Track, project, and quantify
• Understand the logistics
• Increase shipper modal choice
• Develop knowledge base on freight issues

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Outreach to Freight Community

• Continually working with the freight community to
  address their needs
• Encourage/facilitate interaction with freight
  community
• Support projects that facilitate freight movement
• Create an open forum for freight discussion

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Educating the Public

• Involve the community
• Educate public officials on the role of freight
  in their jurisdiction
• Advocate the Importance of a Sound Freight
  Transportation System to the Economic Vitality of
  a Region
• Educate top management on the importance of
  freight issues
• Educate partners on the importance of freight
• Support current freight initiatives

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Technical Support

• Provide Technical Experts in the following
• Policy
• Program
• Financial
• Maintain communication
• Frequent training and materials
• Monitoring and compliance
• Best practices

Roles of a Freight Professional
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Data Collection

• Only 47 of respondents collect data other than
  truck counts
• Port Haz/Mat data
• Commodity flow survey results
• Caltrans and Reebe data
• Vehicle classification counts
• Rail data
• Statewide and countywide freight studies
• Pavement and bridge data

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In-house vs. Contractor Analysis

• In-house analysis
• Freight modeling
• Multimodal and freight studies
• Transportation plans
• Convert AADT for passenger vehicle volumes
• Volume and commodity analyses

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In-house vs. Contractor Analysis (cont.)

• Contract analysis
• Specific corridors and inter-modal studies
• Complex analyses
• Traffic flows, routes
• University resources
• Lack of expert contractors available

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Freight Capacity Ranking
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Institutional Barriers to Freight

• 59 of the respondents answered yes to this
  question
• Not integrated into the planning and programming
  process
• Priorities are highways- not always multimodal
• Inflexible Policies and procedures
• Funding restrictions
• Lack of personnel

Barriers
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External Barriers

• Lack of resources
• Lack of public education of the commercial
  freight business operations
• No universal data or data sharing
• Low communication between trucking companies,
  private sector, and planning agencies
• Low commitment for conducting freight analysis

Barriers
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External Barriers (cont.)

• State and local politics
• Lack of national vision and leadership
• Level of private sector involvement with MPO and
  local planning
• no mechanism for funding freight rail projects on
  an on-going basis
• Agency overlap (i.e. FHWA, NHTSA, PHMSA)

Barriers
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Formal Freight Committees

• 45 of respondents have some formal freight
  committee
• Freight advisory committees
• Planning agencies
• Private sector agencies
• State freight councils
• Regional freight mobility councils
• Area transportation study task forces

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Crossing State Lines

• 71 of respondents felt it possible and necessary
  to look beyond State borders for solutions
• Funding solutions
• Communication, coordination, cooperation
• Multi-jurisdictional organizations
• Funding commitments from both State legislatures

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Crossing State Lines (cont.)

• Looking outside the box
• Shared vision
• An organizational structure that works with
  individual states and also crosses state lines
• Unified ranking system

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What Can FHWA Do?

• 90 of respondents say that FHWA can increase
  support in freight initiatives
• Increase communication
• Provide more information on upcoming legislation
• Provide training and technical support
• Analyze data
• Best Practices

What Can Be Done?
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What Can FHWA Do? (cont.)

• Apply freight tools to individual states needs
• Clarify guidelines
• Development of a national transportation network
• Continue to provide current freight flows and
  forecasts
• Work to develop nation policies for freight

What Can Be Done?
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What Can AASHTO Do?

• 88 of respondents say that AASHTO can increase
  support in freight initiatives
• Prioritize freight
• Provide research
• Build knowledge base of multimodal issues
• Coordinate between States
• Facilitate an ongoing dialogue with the freight
  community

What Can Be Done?
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What Can AASHTO Do? (cont.)

• Develop standards for freight development
• Partnership between AASHTO and FHWA
• Universal data
• Develop national policies and discuss with
  national leaders
• Address modal trade-off and macroeconomic analysis

What Can Be Done?
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Questions that Need to be Asked

• What further categorical funding changes should
  be made in reauthorization?
• What is the level of State DOTs understanding?
• How are DOTs organizing to address freight
  issues?
• How can USDOT policies and actions be changed to
  address the movement of freight?
• What key initiatives are FHWA promoting?

What Can Be Done?
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Questions that Need to be Asked (cont.)

• What will be the consequences to the national
  economy if the nation's transportation network
  fails to stay ahead of the growing freight
  demands?
• Do you feel FHWA will make freight a priority?
• Has your congressional delegation requested
  information on freight priorities when requesting
  earmark project proposals?

What Can Be Done?
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Questions that Need to be Asked (cont.)

• Who at the state and local government level is
  knowledgeable and experienced in the Freight
  Industry?
• Project focus and best practices
• What needs to be included and excluded from
  reauthorization?

What Can Be Done?