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Technical Report

Multimodal Freight Project Prioritization

 
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Publication: Oregon Department of Transportation, Research Section
Volume: FHWA-OR-RD-14-11
Publication Date: 2014
Summary:

As available data has increased and as the national transportation funding bills have moved toward objective evaluation, departments of transportation (DOTs) throughout the country have begun to develop tools to measure the impacts of different projects. Increasingly, DOTs recognize the freight transportation system is necessarily multimodal. However, few DOTs have clearly stated objective tools to make multimodal freight project comparisons. This report informs that gap by summarizing the existing academic literature on the state of the science for freight project impact estimation and reviewing methods currently used by select DOTs nationwide. These methods are analyzed to identify common themes and determine potential avenues for multimodal project evaluation. Most methods either take the form of benefit-cost analysis or a scorecard approach. Examples of each were reviewed in-depth and patterns evaluated. While most tools use similar measures, the supporting metrics vary widely and are not applicable to all modes.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Erica Wygonik, B. Starr McMullen, Daniel Holder
Recommended Citation:
Goodchild, Anne, Erica Wygonik, B. Starr McMullen, and Daniel Holder. Multimodal freight project prioritization. No. FHWA-OR-RD-14-11. Oregon Dept. of Transportation, Research Section, 2014. 
Paper

The Impact of Truck Arrival Information on System Efficiency at Container Terminals

 
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Publication: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Volume: 2162
Pages: 17-24
Publication Date: 2010
Summary:

This paper quantifies the benefits to drayage trucks and container terminals from a data-sharing strategy designed to improve operations at the drayage truck-container terminal interface. This paper proposes a simple rule for using truck information to reduce container rehandling work and suggests a method for evaluating yard crane productivity and truck transaction time. Various scenarios with different levels of information quality are considered to explore how information quality affects system efficiency (i.e., truck wait time and yard crane productivity). Different block configurations and truck arrival rates are also investigated to evaluate the effectiveness of truck information under various system configurations. The research demonstrates that a small amount of truck information can significantly improve crane productivity and reduce truck delay, especially for those terminals operating near capacity or using intensive container stacking, and that complete truck arrival sequence information is not necessary for system improvement.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Wenjuan Zhao
Recommended Citation:
Zhao, Wenjuan, and Anne V. Goodchild. “Impact of Truck Arrival Information on System Efficiency at Container Terminals.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, vol. 2162, no. 1, 2010, pp. 17–24., doi:10.3141/2162-03.
Technical Report

Improved Freight Modeling of Containerized Cargo Shipments between Ocean Port, Handling Facility, and Final Market for Regional Policy and Planning

 
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Publication: Transportation Northwest (TransNow)
Publication Date: 2008
Summary:
The proposed research will address an emerging need by local, state and regional transportation planners and policymakers to better understand the transportation characteristics, functions and dynamics of ocean port-to-handling facility and handling facility-to-final market freight movements. The research will also address a gap in the academic literature for freight transportation models that capture underlying economic forces. This research effort will focus on the development and refinement of a regional freight model of urban container movements from the port to a handling facility and beyond. Existing regional transportation planning models and analytical tools have evolved from passenger travel demand models that are ill-suited to fully capture the business decisions and economic influences driving urban freight flows and have been further constrained by access to appropriate freight data. This research activity proposes a modeling approach which will capture the fundamental economic choices individual shippers consider when trading-off the marginal benefits/costs associated with warehouse inventory management/control relative to transportation access and flow while incorporating the primary freight generation activity centers (warehouse/distribution centers) in the Puget Sound region. This work will identify, evaluate and incorporate data for the Puget Sound region recently available from a variety of existing sources. Some data collection may also be necessary. The final product of this research study will be an improved tool to understand current and future freight movements through the Puget Sound region, and a methodology which will expand the current state of knowledge, and may be applied in other regions, both domestic and international. It will allow more in-depth and timely evaluation and analysis of different local/regional transportation policy initiatives such as the impact of migration of the main warehousing region, and development of inland inter-modal port facilities.

 

 

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Kaori Fugisawa, Eric Jessup
Recommended Citation:
Goodchild, Anne V., Eric L. Jessup, and Kaori Fugisawa. Improved Freight Modeling of Containerized Cargo Shipments between Ocean Port, Handling Facility, and Final Market for Regional Policy and Planning. No. TNW2008-08. 2008.
Paper

Canada’s Port of Prince Rupert as a Successful National Gateway Strategy

Publication: Transportation Letters
Volume: 4(10)
Pages: 261-271
Publication Date: 2010
Summary:

In this paper we examine the Port of Prince Rupert as a case study of the Canadian Gateway strategy. We consider the effect of the Gateway strategy on the development of a container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert, and Prince Rupert’s effect on discretionary cargo at west coast ports in North America. Canada’s Asia-Pacific Gateway Initiative was developed specifically to increase trade between Canada and the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative, coupled with a national freight transportation policy framework, commits investments to a long term plan for infrastructure. Through this integrative policy and public-private collaboration, the container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert has grown and a new route for Asia-North America trade has developed. The port presents a novel concept for North American ports by locating outside of an existing urban center, and focusing on through, rather than local, traffic. However, through a logistical analysis of market sizes and likely importers, we demonstrate that the new container terminal at Prince Rupert will not likely cause a dramatic shift in cargo flows on the West Coast.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Kelly Pitera, Susan Albrecht
Recommended Citation:
Pitera, Kelly, Anne Goodchild, and Susan Albrecht. "Canada's Port of Prince Rupert as a successful national gateway strategy." Transportation Letters 2, no. 4 (2010): 261-271. 
Student Thesis and Dissertations

Developing a Robust Survey Methodology for Collecting Information on the Port Truck Drayage Industry

 
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Publication: Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans)
Publication Date: 2014
Summary:
This paper describes the population characteristics in the drayage trucking population of the Port of Seattle as determined by the 2013 Truck Driver Survey. The 2013 Truck Driver Survey was created to give the Port of Seattle more information on the trip destinations, working conditions, equipment, and economics of truck drivers serving the Port of Seattle, so that policymakers creating regulations affecting trucking at the port could be better informed about the trucking population.
The survey was a 44 question mail-back survey that was distributed at the Port of Seattle. The survey was distributed for eight days at all container terminals at the Port of Seattle, and got a 29% response rate.
The majority of the trips to and from the Port of Seattle are for the local Seattle area (33%) and the Kent Valley (20%). Other trips are distributed to service areas throughout the State of Washington. Owner-operators were found to make more of the short trips, with employee drivers making more of the long trips.
62% of trucks at the Port of Seattle are more than 12 years old. These trucks will have to be replaced before 2015 to comply with the Port of Seattle Clean Trucks Program.
The Port of Seattle has a diverse population, with 53% of drivers indicating that they did not speak English as a first language. Among drivers who indicated that they didn’t speak English, about 50% were from Africa, with South/Central America and Asia/Pacific Islands also having significant populations.
Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Jerome Drescher
Recommended Citation:
Goodchild, Anne, and Jerome Drescher. Developing a Robust Survey Methodology for Collecting Information on the Port Truck Drayage Industry. No. 2012-S-US-0017. Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium, 2014. University of Washington Master's degree thesis.
Paper

Rails-Next-to-Trails: A Methodology for Selecting Appropriate Safety Treatments at Complex Multimodal Intersections

 
Publication: Transportation Research Record
Volume: 2672 (10)
Pages: 27-Dec
Publication Date: 2018
Summary:
There are more than 212,000 at-grade railroad crossings in the United States. Several feature paths running adjacent to the railroad tracks, and crossing a highway; they serve urban areas, recreational activities, light rail station access, and a variety of other purposes. Some of these crossings see a disproportionate number of violations and conflicts between rail, vehicles, and pedestrians and bikes. This research focuses on developing a methodology for appropriately addressing the question of treatments in these complex, multimodal intersections. The methodology is designed to be able to balance a predetermined, prescriptive approach with the professional judgment of the agency carrying out the investigation. Using knowledge and data from the literature, field studies, and video observations, a framework for selecting treatments based on primary issues at a given location is developed. Using such a framework allows the agency to streamline their crossing improvement efforts; to easily communicate and inform the public of the decisions made and their reasons for doing so; to secure stakeholder buy-in prior to starting a project or investigation; to make sure that approach and selected treatments are more standardized; and to ensure transparency in the organization to make at-grade crossings safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, without negatively impacting trains or vehicles.

 

Paper

Rails-Next-to-Trails: A Methodology for Selecting Appropriate Safety Treatments at Complex Multimodal Intersections

 
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Publication: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Volume: 2672 (10)
Pages: 27-Dec
Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

There are more than 212,000 at-grade railroad crossings in the United States. Several feature paths running adjacent to the railroad tracks, and crossing a highway; they serve urban areas, recreational activities, light rail station access, and a variety of other purposes. Some of these crossings see a disproportionate number of violations and conflicts between rail, vehicles, and pedestrians and bikes. This research focuses on developing a methodology for appropriately addressing the question of treatments in these complex, multimodal intersections. The methodology is designed to be able to balance a predetermined, prescriptive approach with the professional judgment of the agency carrying out the investigation. Using knowledge and data from the literature, field studies, and video observations, a framework for selecting treatments based on primary issues at a given location is developed. Using such a framework allows the agency to streamline their crossing improvement efforts; to easily communicate and inform the public of the decisions made and their reasons for doing so; to secure stakeholder buy-in prior to starting a project or investigation; to make sure that approach and selected treatments are more standardized; and to ensure transparency in the organization to make at-grade crossings safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, without negatively impacting trains or vehicles.

Recommended Citation:
Alligood, Anna & Sheth, Manali & Goodchild, Anne & McCormack, Edward & Butrina, Polina. (2018). Rails-Next-to-Trails: A Methodology for Selecting Appropriate Safety Treatments at Complex Multimodal Intersections. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2672(10), 12–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118792763
Paper

The Effect of Distance on Cargo Flows: A Case Study of Chinese Imports and Their Hinterland Destinations

 
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Publication: Maritime Economics & Logistics
Volume: 20
Pages: 456-475
Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

 

With the rapid development of ports in China, competition for cargo is growing. The ability of a port to attract hinterland traffic is affected by many factors, including distance to the hinterland destinations. This paper studies the effects of distance on import cargo flows from a port to its hinterland. Two major findings are reported. Through a Spatial Concentration Analysis, this study shows that cargo imported through ports with relatively low throughput is primarily delivered to local areas, with the proportion of cargo delivered to local areas from larger ports being much smaller. The present study also shows (according to a gravity model, the Gompertz function and several other methods) that cargo flows from a large port to its hinterland increase with distance below a certain threshold, while cargo flows approach a stable state once they exceed this threshold. These results can be used to inform port managers and policy makers regarding the hinterland markets for ports of different sizes.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Likun Wang, Yong Wang
Recommended Citation:
Wang, Likun, Anne Goodchild, and Yong Wang. (2017) The Effect of Distance on Cargo Flows: A Case Study of Chinese Imports and Their Hinterland Destinations. Maritime Economics & Logistics, 20(3), 456–475. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-017-0079-3
Paper

Rails-Next-to-Trails: A Methodology for Selecting Appropriate Safety Treatments at Complex Multimodal Intersections

 
Publication: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Volume: Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

There are more than 212,000 at-grade railroad crossings in the US. A number of them features paths running adjacent to the railroad tracks, and crossing a highway; serving urban areas, recreational activities, light rail station access and a variety of other purposes. Some of these crossings see a disproportionate number of violations and conflicts between rail, vehicles and pedestrians and bikes. This research focuses on developing a methodology for appropriately addressing the question of treatments in these complex, multi-modal intersections. The methodology is designed to be able to balance a predetermined, prescriptive approach with the professional judgment of the agency carrying out the investigation. Using knowledge and data from literature, field studies and video observations, a framework for selecting treatments based on primary issues at a given location is developed. Using such a framework allows the agency to streamline their crossing improvement efforts; to easily communicate and inform the public of the decisions made and their reasons for doing so; to secure stakeholder buy-in prior to starting a project or investigation; to make sure that approach and selected treatments are more standardized; ensure transparency in the organization to make at-grade crossings safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, without negatively impacting trains or vehicles.

Recommended Citation:
Alligood, Anna Bovbjerg, Manali Sheth, Anne Goodchild, Edward McCormack, and Polina Butrina. "Rails-next-to-trails: a methodology for selecting appropriate safety treatments at complex multimodal intersections." Transportation research record 2672, no. 10 (2018): 12-27.
Student Thesis and Dissertations

Life Cycle Assessment of American Wheat: Analysis of Regional Variations in Production and Transportation

Publication Date: 2009
Summary:

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a model-based approach to quantify where, and in what form, energy and materials are used in industrial production. The “life cycle” refers to the production of raw materials for fuels, infrastructure and energy conversion equipment, use, maintenance, after life options, and relevant health and social factors. This is sometimes referred to as a “cradle to grave” approach when assessing environmental impacts. Current interest in carbon footprint and environmental impacts of products derived from crops, primarily food and bio-fuels, first requires a detailed life cycle assessment of the agricultural production. American wheat is selected to study the variation in life cycle impacts of an agricultural product that has been aggregated in previous LCAs. All previous studies contain an LCA case study of one species of wheat grown in a specific location. Such a narrow approach is not an accurate representation of the system. This LCA of American wheat differs in the fact that it investigates multiple locations, species, variation in farming practices, fuel use, fertilizer application, and transportation throughout the country in an attempt to be inclusive of the spatial and species variability of wheat production on greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the decentralized nature of American agriculture, an understanding of transportation decisions and resulting impacts are especially important. Results indicate a 101% intra-species and 62% inter-species variation in greenhouse gas emissions of wheat grown in the U.S. However, due to a range of 1440 kg CO2 eq/ha to -1404 kg CO2 eq/ha, sequestration of carbon during cultivation is the most sensitive and variable contribution to life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

Authors: Brendan O'Donnell
Recommended Citation:
O'Donnell, Brendan. (2009). Life cycle assessment of American wheat: Analysis of regional variations in production and transportation. University of Washington Master's Degree Thesis.
Thesis: Array