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600451-00066

SWUTC Research Project Description

Multistate Megaregion Freight Planning Benefits: Evidences from Louisiana-Texas

University:  University of Texas at Austin

Principal Investigator:
Robert Harrison
Center for Transportation Research
(512) 232-3113

Project Monitor:
Dennis Kearns
1001 Congress Avenue
Suite 250
Austin TX 78701

Funding Source:  USDOT and State of Texas General Revenue Funds

Total Project Cost: $64,285

Project Number:  600451-00066

Date Started: 5/1/12

Estimated Completion Date:  6/30/13

Project Summary

Project Abstract:
Megaregion (MR) planning interest has grown in recent years, driven in part by a limited number of metropolitan areas that can be viewed as sharing common integrating economic and social activities. American 2050 (2004) identified eleven emerging MRs which included one linking Texas and Louisiana centering on oil, gas and marine activities. The project will evaluate the benefits of using an MR approach to the planning of freight multimodal investments at both private and public sector levels. It will capture multi-regional MR planning work recently completed and link researchers within the new Region 6 working on related freight planning issues. This includes a wide range of modes including highways, rail, inland waterway barge traffic and deep water shipping. The major objective to improve regional freight transportation planning by including MR analyses into future updates of statewide transportation plans.

Project Objectives:
The study objectives are threefold. First, the work will be designed to integrate freight into those studies in the 2012/13 Region 6 program which strengthen multistate transportation planning. Second, it will be structured to promote corridor multimodal corridor protection, preservation and expansion by examining new literature and peer reviewed work on this subject and applying it to a selection of Gulf Coast corridors. Finally, the work will be shared with colleagues in Louisiana and will form a basis for interstate cooperation on corridor improvements and system investment.

Task Descriptions:
Task1. MR Program and Symposium
Evaluate the MR related activities and studies in the Region 6 program with Dock Burke (Director) and group, as appropriate, work into thematic elements. This lays down the basis for integrating the 2013 Symposium and products of the MR Region 6 program. It will be accomplished in two stages, first linking the Texas MR studies and then sharing the product with Louisiana team members to decide how best to undertake potential integration with studies in their Region 6 program and from other complementary research—undertaken or recently completed—in their region.

Task 2. Literature Review
The focus of this study is freight and how the use of MR techniques across all modes might lead to improved corridor planning measured in some form of quantified impact. This leads to the economic evaluation of modal corridors which measures efficiencies in terms of metrics that are meaningful to modal users. These include reliability, safety, congestion and strategic needs for the region, for example hurricane evacuation along the Gulf Coast. The literature survey will identify (a) case studies and reports where economic methods were used to measure these impacts and (b) sponsored research that has examined multi-state MR benefits, including the recent Volpe study sponsored by FHWA. This particular research also offers a step-wise program to introduce MR planning into typical state planning in a constructive, sequential and effective manner.

Task 3. Evaluate the Volpe Multistate Recommendations for Megaregional Planning
Preliminary findings of the Volpe study team at the 2011 TRB Summer Meeting offered a step-wise process towards a comprehensive megaregional planning process the includes DOTs, MPOs and other key stakeholders like railroads and shippers. The hierarchy included:

  1. Define needs, measure flows and establish boundaries
  2. Stakeholder outreach, development of priorities and strategies
  3. Data collection, cooperative modal studies
  4. Integrate findings into MPO current planning process with DOT input
  5. Implement joint megaregion projects, and
  6. Manage, update and improve system elements over time, including measuring impacts (benefits)

This work will be updated by any additional material released into the public domain by FHWA and then superimposed on the freight networks of the Gulf coast segments of the Texas-Louisiana megaregion.

Task 4. Discussions with Region 6 Louisiana Colleagues
A workshop will integrate and calibrate the network and boundaries of the study using the material from Tasks 2 and 3. Three modal networks will be examined—highway, rail and the Intracoastal Waterway—and case studies selected to evaluate, in preliminary form, those investments needed to improve current freight flows and meet future projected demand. Schematics will be developed identifying key issues on each system in a format that can be transformed into a GIS format at a future time. The precise arrangements for this collaboration and whether it is workable are unknown at this time but they are an essential step in testing potential benefits from megaregion planning. Although the final goal is multistate multimodal planning, each mode is separated in this study because of time and resource constraints. Each is given the same structure although the availability and quality of data will inevitably change the reported work in the final report.

 Task 5. Highways

  1. Background—system size and capacity
  2. Bottlenecks—first by state, then by multistate
  3. Investment needs
  4. Benefits to state and megaregion

Task 6 Rail Corridors

  1. Background—system size and capacity
  2. Bottlenecks—first by state, then by multistate
  3. Investment needs
  4. Benefits to state and megaregion

Task 7. Intracoastal Waterway

  1. Background—system size and capacity
  2. Bottlenecks—first by state, then by multistate
  3. Investment needs
  4. Benefits to state and megaregion

Task 8. Symposium Presentation
A second workshop will integrate the findings of all the Region 6 studies and identify the key findings to be presented at the Region 6 Symposium. There is a need to insure that highway freight—a major thrust of this study—coordinates efficiently with other planned work in the new Region 6 program.

Task 9. Final Report
The report will detail findings and recommendations from both the study and the Symposium. A key issue to be addressed is whether state DOTs like TxDOT should introduce megaregional elements into its statewide transportation planning and, if so, what form. In addition MPO planners could use megaregional results to raise freight efficiencies in their jurisdiction and/or demonstrate that there is an economic benefit to industries within their jurisdiction from improvements to the transportation systems they use to move products and services.


Implementation of Research Outcomes:
The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act includes a number of provisions advocating improving the condition and performance of the national freight network through targeted investments and policies by the Department of Transportation and state agencies. Critical to this network are freight corridors which serve as major trade gateways connecting multiple cities and regions. However, transportation planners and policy makers are limited by the number of tools available to assess the performance and condition of these corridors. Most current tools and models require data which is either unavailable, outdated or insufficient for analysis. To address this need, a truck-rail intermodal toolkit was developed for multimodal corridor analysis and enables planners and other stakeholders examine freight movement along corridors based on mode and route characteristics. The toolkit includes techniques to acquire data for simulating line-haul movements, and models to evaluate multiple freight movement scenarios along corridors. Example analyses examining truck and rail movements along 5 mode-competitive corridors are presented in addition to a case study of the Gulf Coast Megaregion. The methodology described herein can be used in other multistate corridors and serve as an initial assessment of the condition and performance of the national freight network.

Products developed by this research include:

Presentation:  Comparing Truck-Rail Movements along Competitive Freight Corridors, Rydell Walthall, presented to the UT-Austin Undergraduate Summer Internship in Transportation Program, August 15, 2013.

PresentationLocal Highway Traffic Impacts on Truck Productivity in the Gulf Coast Megaregion, Dan Seedah, Garrett Fullerton, Travis Owens and Robert Harrison, presented to the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 2013.

Presentation Freight Movement in the Gulf Coast Megaregion, Garrett Fullerton, presented to the UT-Austin Undergraduate Summer Internship in Transportation Program, August 2012.

Journal Article in Preparation:  A Transportation Corridor Analysis Toolkit, Dan P.K. Seedah, Rydell D. Walthall, Garrett Fullerton, Travis D. Owens and Robert Harrison, to be submitted to Transportation Research Part E:  Logistics and Transportation Review.

Impacts/Benefits of Implementation:
This study plays a critical role for state transportation planners seeking to implement provisions outlined by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. The results of this study will allow transportation planners and policy makers to make informed decisions on the impact of multimodal freight infrastructure improvements on users. The toolkit developed by this research provides an additional tool that fills the freight data gap which currently limits available planning models. The toolkit includes techniques to acquire data for simulating line-haul movements and models to evaluate multiple freight movement scenarios along corridors based on mode and route characteristics.

Web Links:
Final Technical Report