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Pages 119-179

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From page 119...
... 119 This section of the Guide presents nine primary case studies that document implementations of freight initiatives in six metropolitan areas of varying sizes across the United States: Atlanta, Georgia; the Kansas City area; Los Angeles, California; New York City, New York; Seattle, Washington; and Toledo, Ohio. The case studies represent a sample of the initiatives that have been implemented across the country to improve the freight system performance in metropolitan areas.
From page 120...
... 120 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta Truck Congestion: Daytime Delivery Bans and Truck Routes Introduction The Atlanta, Georgia, region has had extensive planning and practical experience in the field of urban freight movement. Planning efforts to accommodate the Games of the XXVI Olympiad (1996 Summer Olympics)
From page 121...
... Case Studies 121 Figure 10. ARC MPO regions.
From page 122...
... 122 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Case Study 1: 1996 Summer Olympics Delivery Experiment The 1996 Summer Olympics took place in the Atlanta area. This sudden influx of traffic created peak-level congestion throughout the region during daylight hours.
From page 123...
... Case Studies 123 Narrow roadways -- present in urbanized areas where land costs and aged infrastructure curtail expansion -- combined with additional traffic, parked automobiles, and lack of off-street parking, result in the need for specialized equipment to move goods. If operations typically involve larger tractor-trailer combinations, a carrier may be required to purchase smaller units.
From page 124...
... 124 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Emerging Issues Interviewed freight system users and service providers identified the lack of sufficient capacity and resulting congestion as the leading freight impediment in the Atlanta region. The increased presence of automobiles and other vehicles on the roadway, traveling or parked, decreases mobility for commercial trucks.
From page 125...
... Case Studies 125 used for local commercial vehicle movements. The proposed system, the Atlanta Strategic Truck Route Master Plan, was developed in collaboration with the local jurisdictions within the region.
From page 126...
... 126 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide a valid value proposition statement and a continuing engagement schedule was necessary. An added complexity of the task was the desire to include municipal involvement within each of the county discussions for greater detailed expectations and develop ownership at the broader base.
From page 127...
... Case Studies 127 As part of a collaborative funding project with the Georgia DOT, a call for projects was announced in 2012. The projects were to be submitted for local jurisdictions, and were intended to have a freight focus and support local and regional goods movement.
From page 128...
... 128 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide is estimated at 2,086,771. Kansas City is the 29th largest city in the United States, the secondlargest metropolitan area in Missouri (St.
From page 129...
... Case Studies 129 Source: http://www.marc.org/transportation Figure 13. Kansas City regional area.
From page 130...
... 130 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide MARC has an active Goods Movement Committee that seeks to integrate freight issues and concerns with the overall metropolitan planning process. The committee grew out of the 1995 Intermodal Freight Strategies Study.
From page 131...
... Case Studies 131 Planning Guide Strategies Discussed • Initiative 53: Create a Freight Quality Partnership • Initiative 2: New and Upgraded Infrastructure Overview The Kansas City region is a major junction point for freight movements in North America. Kansas City is one of the two major locations where freight shifts from the West Coast to the East Coast on Class I railroads (the other location being Chicago)
From page 132...
... 132 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide particular, the four Class I railroads approached the Missouri and Kansas DOTs and local government officials to request improvements to help alleviate the congestion. This resulted in efforts to alleviate critical rail bottlenecks with public/private projects like the Sheffield and Argentine fly-over rail crossings.
From page 133...
... Case Studies 133 region's status as a leading North American logistics hub. Kansas City SmartPort has two main missions: 1.
From page 134...
... 134 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Interviews with local government officials indicated that initially there was a mixed reaction to the freight strategies, and even to the formation of the SmartPort. Not all local governments in the metropolitan area had freight-related traffic problems.
From page 135...
... Case Studies 135 Concluding Observations Metropolitan freight strategies and programs need to be nimble to address changes in freight trends and markets. Not all freight strategies work in every metropolitan area.
From page 136...
... 136 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide SCAG is mandated by federal and state law to research and draw up plans for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste management, and air quality. Additional mandates exist at the state level, meaning that freight is only one of several priorities for SCAG and the board that oversees it.
From page 137...
... Case Studies 137 Freight users have access to all modes of transportation. The area is served by the two Class I railroads (Figure 17)
From page 138...
... 138 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide but the Greater Los Angeles area is still number one among U.S. metropolitan areas in manufacturing output.
From page 139...
... Case Studies 139 Overview Despite more than 25 years of progress and innovative approaches addressing increased freight transportation demand, growth in international trade and related truck and rail traffic has continued to contribute to roadway network congestion and poor regional air quality in Los Angeles. The rail network serving the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach could no longer handle the amount of cargo needing to be shipped across the region from the ports to the rail yards on the east side of the region.
From page 140...
... 140 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide region of more than $249 billion. Nationally, freight originating from the region supports more than 3.37 million jobs outside of the Los Angeles area (Southern California Council of Governments 2012)
From page 141...
... Case Studies 141 Stakeholder Engagement Interviews with local agency managers confirmed that the obstacles to successful freight planning across jurisdictions are quite significant. Such temporary localized impacts as construction and the ongoing concentration of traffic into designated corridors have been a source of potential opposition from affected municipalities.
From page 142...
... 142 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide fear of what might happen, either from a regulatory or operational perspective, if they did not contribute to the planning dialog. The packaging and branding of projects together helped facilitate private-sector support for the projects, though not uniformly.
From page 143...
... Case Studies 143 Bundling and Branding With so many discrete elements of the system needing improvement, plans that bundle individual projects into larger-scope sets of projects, and provide interdependent performance improvement benefits under one name, have helped to generate public acceptance and support. Branding sets of projects with names such as the Alameda Corridor or Goods Movement Action Plan has provided public officials and the media with a tool for communicating concepts more easily when looking for support at the state and federal level.
From page 144...
... 144 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide movements. For example, a local drayage carrier indicated that restrictive truck routes are not coordinated between all of the individual cities, creating difficulty and added risk to their operations.
From page 145...
... Case Studies 145 New York, New York New York City Truck Movement: Freight Parking and Loading Zones, Loading and Parking Restrictions, Removal of Intersection Constraints, and Truck Routes Introduction New York City is the most populous city in the United States, with a resident population of 8.4 million, and an additional 52 million visitors per year. New York City is a global finance and banking center, and has significant activities in media, fashion, entertainment, real estate, construction, manufacturing, and commercial property.
From page 146...
... 146 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide though capacity and infrastructure constraints limit the amount of goods carried by this mode. A unique cross-harbor rail float bridge is used to facilitate the movement of rail cars between New York, Long Island, and New Jersey.
From page 147...
... Case Studies 147 The issues addressed by these projects include: • Church Avenue Delivery Window Project: Traffic and parking congestion, combined with conflicting demands from a wide variety of users leading to the need for an improved freight delivery system, including the use of time-specific freight parking and loading zones (i.e., delivery windows)
From page 148...
... 148 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Case Study 5: Church Avenue Project Corridor, Brooklyn, New York Traffic and parking congestion, combined with conflicting demand from a wide variety of users, led to the need for an improved freight delivery system, including the use of time-specific freight parking and loading zones (i.e., delivery windows)
From page 149...
... Case Studies 149 prior to the development of this block-by-block plan, which balances the need for deliveries with the demand for parking. The project resulted in improved conditions for businesses, residents, shoppers, truckers, and others in the corridor.
From page 150...
... 150 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Economic Impacts The congestion on Church Avenue affected freight carriers, local businesses, the local population, and through travelers (bus and auto modes)
From page 151...
... Case Studies 151 Surveys indicated that 65% of deliveries to the area were already occurring before noon, which was one reason for selecting the morning hours for the primary delivery window (see Figure 24)
From page 152...
... 152 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Figure 27. Travel speeds after delivery window implementation.
From page 153...
... Case Studies 153 operational issues, and developing and implementing a low-cost feasible solution. One of the most significant challenges, however, was to develop a solution that balanced the needs of the various stakeholders: business owners, delivery drivers, local residents, transit riders, pedestrians, passenger car drivers, and others.
From page 154...
... 154 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Case Study 6: Columbus Avenue, First and Second Avenues, Manhattan, New York A reduction in parking spaces, resulting from the implementation of larger scale projects geared toward improving conditions for transit and/or non-motorized users, led to the need for specialized freight delivery allowances, including the use of time-specific freight parking and loading zones, combined with loading and parking restrictions (i.e., delivery windows)
From page 155...
... Case Studies 155 Again, delivery windows were part of the initiative to minimize delivery impacts on businesses, with new delivery windows implemented in both extension areas. First Avenue/Second Avenue Select Bus Service Implementation Project On the east side of Manhattan, First Avenue and Second Avenue are parallel roads, 1 block apart.
From page 156...
... 156 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide possible impacts on both revenues and costs. Fewer spaces would likely mean increases in freight delivery parking violations as well, increasing parking ticket costs for freight delivery firms.
From page 157...
... Figure 29. Delivery windows.
From page 158...
... 158 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide The Columbus Avenue BID that overlaps with the project area was also found to have 100% occupancy in March 2012, approximately 1 year after the project was completed. The second phase of the parking-protected bike path project included two sections, one to the north and one to the south.
From page 159...
... Case Studies 159 Figure 33. New parking regulations on First Avenue and Second Avenue.
From page 160...
... 160 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide ticketing and towing. Local community boards also were involved in the development and implementation of both projects.
From page 161...
... Case Studies 161 • Quantifying delivery activity through surveys and other data-gathering activities provides the information necessary for project development with regard to delivery window locations, timeframes, and allowable loading durations. • Developing and signing delivery window times and durations to meet the observed local freight loading needs is very important.
From page 162...
... 162 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide worked closely with the local community and stakeholders to implement the recommendations, including a truck-route redesignation and the removal of intersection constraints along the new truck route. Conditions Prior to Implementation Maspeth is a community in central/southern Queens that has a mix of commercial districts, local shops, residential neighborhoods, and industrial/warehousing facilities.
From page 163...
... Case Studies 163 Regional Approach/Initiative The goals of the study were to (a) identify and recommend a solution based on existing conditions analyses, (b)
From page 164...
... 164 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide As a consequence of this issue, the New York City DOT would not approve the proposed truck-route redesignation unless the constraints posed by this intersection were eliminated and other traffic impacts associated with the proposed re-routing of traffic from Grand Avenue to the Maspeth industrial area were addressed. Multiple options were considered for the normalization of the intersection; the preferred option is shown in Figure 37.
From page 165...
... Case Studies 165 Phase IV involved monitoring of the redesignation after implementation. The average weekday street-segment volumes were compared before and after the implementation.
From page 166...
... 166 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide the challenge of engaging with numerous stakeholders that often had conflicting viewpoints and goals. This included coordinating with different agencies, including the NYPD, on enforcement matters and with local community boards to deliver an outcome that was suitable to local residents and businesses.
From page 167...
... Case Studies 167 changing truck behavior; and (2) to encourage the truck drivers to use the bypass route.
From page 168...
... 168 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide growing freight needs. In January 1994, Puget Sound business leaders created a Regional Freight Mobility Roundtable, which included private freight companies and public-sector transportation leaders.
From page 169...
... Case Studies 169 Figure 42. FAST Corridor project map.
From page 170...
... 170 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Shippers "choose" to have this freight come through the Seattle-Tacoma region. The decision to have freight come through the region largely depends on factors outside of the region's control, such as global shipping patterns and trade growth.
From page 171...
... Case Studies 171 FAST Corridor is not a traditional highway or rail corridor; instead it is an initiative for improving freight in the region. Over the next 2 years, the concept was formally adopted in the PSRC Regional Transportation Plan and the program was staffed by the PSRC and Washington State DOT.
From page 172...
... 172 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide The larger strategy is built around a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that details the specific projects in the strategy.
From page 173...
... Case Studies 173 projects that were too small for the Washington State DOT to focus on, but too large for municipalities to handle alone. As a group, they were able to handle problems that no single entity could resolve, which provided real results and increased buy-in from their private-sector partners.
From page 174...
... 174 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide the rail network around Airline Junction Intermodal Yard, which allowed the facility to quickly double annual lifts and provide further economic development opportunities for the region. This case study is unique in that the initiative was not a response to a specific freight issue.
From page 175...
... Case Studies 175 Planning Guide Strategies Discussed • Initiative 53: Create a Freight Quality Partnership • Initiative 2: New and Upgraded Infrastructure Over the past two decades, state and local officials in Ohio have noticed the growing importance to the state's economy of the logistics and distribution industry. Several Toledo-area groups began to realize that, because of its strategic location and multimodal freight assets, the area had the potential to become the anchor of the larger economic engine of the Lake Erie West region.
From page 176...
... 176 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Ai Ju rline nction Source: Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments Figure 44. Potential intermodal project sites.
From page 177...
... Case Studies 177 impact of doubling the existing capacity of the Airline Junction Yard. The partners used IMPLAN (and its RIMS II multipliers)
From page 178...
... 178 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas: A Planning Guide Regional Approach/Initiative Norfolk Southern ultimately described this project as a reverse public/private partnership. Normally, the railroad would identify an improvement as beneficial to the public but not meeting the return threshold that would justify the railroad's complete capital investment.
From page 179...
... Case Studies 179 Concluding Observations The Toledo region's economy has historically been tied to the automotive industry. Although Toledo has fared better than most of its rust-belt neighbors, area stakeholders recognized the risk of having their economy tied to one industry.

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