Freight Transportation Planning for Urban Areas

Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, Dec 2004 by Chatterjee, Arun

Planning for internal freight movements falls under the scope of the planning and engineering approach commonly used by MPOs, cities and counties. These programs and processes at the local level are reviewed in the following section.

PLANNING PROGRAMS OF MPOS, CITIES AND COUNTIES

A variety of planning activities and programs are undertaken in an urban area by different public agencies at the local level in partnership with the state department of transportation and FHWA. Federal legislation requires that urbanized areas with a population of more than 50,000 establish MPOs for transportation planning. In addition to MPOs, cities and counties in an urbanized area have transportation/traffic engineering departments that also undertake planning activities.

MPO Planning Process

All MPOs have well defined planning programs that include long-range and short-range planning. Short-range planning may be a component of the long-range planning process and, in most cases, special-purpose studies representing emphasis areas are undertaken to focus on specific issues such as air quality. A focused study on the existing issues and problems related to freight transportation and short-range opportunities can be undertaken by an MPO in addition to what may be done through the long-range planning process.

The time horizon for long-range planning usually is 20 years. The plan is reexamined and updated every three years. Forecasting future scenarios is essential for long-range planning, and forecasting models play an important role in the plan development process. There are two major categories of these models. A freight planner must examine how freight movements are treated in these models.

Land Use Planning and Forecasting Models. Freight traffic generators often are included in general land use categories such as "industrial" and "commercial" and their unique identity is lost. Therefore, they may not receive the recognition or attention they deserve. The land use planning process should be examined from the perspective of freight transportation. Questions should include:

* Does it address truck terminals and their current and future locations?

* Does it address warehouses and their current and future locations?

* How are the expansion and/or relocation needs of major terminals-airports, seaports and rail-truck intermodal terminals-addressed?

* Is access to freight facilities being examined?

The answers to these questions and other similar ones will reveal the adequacy or deficiency of the existing land use planning process for freight planning.

Travel Forecasting Models. A considerable amount of time and effort is spent developing and applying four-step travel demand forecasting models. These models are useful for assessing future alternative plans. However, historically, the primary focus of these models has been on passenger trips. Only a few MPOs today make a serious effort to develop truck travel forecasting models. The reasons for not doing so usually include the lack of data and the cost of doing a truck travel survey.