Guidebook for Integrating Freight into Transportation Planning and Project Selection Processes (2007)

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TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2007 www.TRB.org N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I V E H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M NCHRP REPORT 594 Subject Areas Planning, Administration, and Environment • Operations and Safety • Freight Transportation • Marine Transportation Guidebook for Integrating Freight into Transportation Planning and Project Selection Processes Cambridge Systematics, Inc. Cambridge, MA W I T H Prime Focus, LLC DePero, WI A N D Kevin Heanue Alexandria, VA Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 594 Project 8-53 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 978-0-309-09910-3 Library of Congress Control Number 2007908307 © 2007 Transportation Research Board COPYRIGHT PERMISSION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report.

CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 594 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Kim Fisher, Senior Program Officer Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Hilary Freer, Senior Editor NCHRP PROJECT 8-53 Field of Transportation Planning Area of Forecasting David G. Williams, Parametrix, Portland, OR (Chair) Alpesh Patel, North Carolina DOT, Raleigh, NC John D. Bell, New York State DOT, Albany, NY Rebecca M. Brewster, American Transportation Research Institute, Smyrna, GA A. Ray Chamberlain, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Fort Collins, CO Michael J. Demetsky, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Matthew Dietrich, Ohio Rail Development Commission, Columbus, OH Deborah Freund, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Washington, DC Jane D. Hayse, Atlanta Regional Commission, Atlanta, GA Thomas C. Messer, California DOT, Sacramento, CA Keith M. Sherman, Illinois DOT, Springfield, IL Lisa Randall, FHWA Liaison Bob Bouchard, Other Liaison Elaine King, TRB Liaison C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S

Over the last decade, the incorporation of freight issues into the transportation planning activities of state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations has received significant focus. Much of this focus has been on integrating freight into the planning portion of the project delivery process. Although most states and MPOs have suc- cessfully incorporated freight issues into long-range planning activities, fewer have fully in- tegrated freight throughout the entire transportation planning, programming, and project development process. This Guidebook contains information on freight planning, but also significantly extends the transportation profession’s knowledge of incorporating freight throughout the program development and implementation stages, from needs identifica- tion to project delivery. This Guidebook with be useful to both advanced and novice freight practitioners. Even with only moderate economic growth—about 3 percent a year—freight movements across all modes are expected to increase significantly.1 Although this rate of growth is not extraordinary (it is about the same as we have seen in the last 20 years and roughly tracks growth in GDP), it does mean that freight movements may become a larger component of the traffic mix in many regions of the country. With ongoing growth in travel demand on virtually every system of transportation in the United States, transportation capacity is seri- ously inadequate. Congestion, reliability, safety, and system preservation will be major problems for the foreseeable future, despite improved operational efficiencies. Federal surface transportation acts emphasize the need for state and metropolitan multi- modal and intermodal transportation planning and programming activities to include freight along with passenger transportation. The traditional planning and project selection processes have not adequately accounted for freight movement and freight needs. Some states and metropolitan areas have made significant progress in integrating freight consid- erations into their planning processes and in developing solutions to facilitate freight move- ments. Others need more guidance on how to better incorporate the needs of freight into their planning and project selection processes. Improvements are needed in procedures, methods, processes, and cooperative mechanisms for freight planning and programming at both the state and MPO levels. The objective of this project was to develop a framework for incorporating freight needs for all modes into transportation planning and priority programming by state, regional, metropolitan, local, and special transportation agencies. Beginning with 23 case studies, F O R E W O R D By Kim Fisher Staff Officer Transportation Research Board 1FHWA Freight Analysis Framework (FAF2)

Cambridge Systematics, with Prime Focus, and Kevin Heanue, identified practices, processes, and procedures to guide freight planning and programming. The resulting Guidebook begins with a general description of freight issues and then leads practitioners through each step in the process: starting with needs identification and ending with project development strategies. Examples from the case studies are used to illustrate each step in the process. The Guidebook covers technical issues, organizational suggestions, and communi- cation requirements of freight planning and programming. A project final report (which de- scribes the case studies and other resources used in the Guidebook) will be published as NCHRP Web-Only Document 112. This Guidebook should be of significant use to freight planners, project programmers, transportation agency leadership, and other freight stakeholders. These transportation pro- fessionals strive to accommodate the increased freight demand on an already congested transportation system—this Guidebook will provide methods and tools to improve the in- tegration of freight into the transportation planning and project selection process.

C O N T E N T S 1 Section 1 Introduction 1 Overview 2 Purpose 3 Approach 3 Organization 5 Section 2 Basic Principles and General Guidance 5 Framework for Mainstreaming Freight Issues in the Transportation Planning and Programming Process 6 Seven Key Elements of Freight Planning and Programming Integration 14 Section 3 Getting Started 14 Introduction 17 The Freight Planning and Programming Self-Assessment 21 Section 4 Techniques for Integrating Freight within the Transportation Planning and Programming Process 21 Introduction 23 Needs Identification Strategies 31 Plan Development Strategies 41 Programming Strategies 53 Project Development Strategies 59 Section 5 Freight Resource Tool Box 59 Overview 70 The Freight Planning and Programming Self-Assessment 89 Case Studies 184 Acronyms 187 Freight and Intermodal Glossaries