National Cooperative Freight Research Program: A Status Report 2011 (2011)

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Research Results Digest 3 December 2011 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE FREIGHT RESEARCH PROGRAM: A STATUS REPORT This is a staff digest of the progress and status of the National Cooperative Freight Research Program, which is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. The program is managed by Crawford Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs. Individual contract research projects are managed by William C. Rogers, Senior Program Officer. BACKGROUND The National Cooperative Freight Re- search Program (NCFRP) is a cooperative research program sponsored by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and administered by the Trans- portation Research Board. The program was authorized in 2005 with the passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). On September 6, 2006, a contract to begin work was executed between RITA and The National Academies. The NCFRP will carry out applied research on problems facing the freight industry that are not being adequately addressed by exist- ing research programs. SAFETEA-LU, in authorizing the NCFRP, called for the de- velopment of a national research agenda addressing freight transportation and for the implementation of a multi-year strate- gic plan to achieve it. The act also states that “the national research agenda shall . . . include research in the following areas: (1) Techniques for estimating and quantifying public benefits derived from freight transportation projects, (2) Alternative approaches to calcu- lating the contribution of truck and rail traffic to congestion on specific highway segments, (3) The feasibility of consolidating ori- gins and destinations for freight movement, (4) Methods for incorporating estimates of international trade into landside transportation planning, (5) The use of technology applications to increase capacity of highway lanes dedicated to truck-only traffic, (6) Development of physical and policy alternatives for separating car and truck traffic, (7) Ways to synchronize infrastructure improvements with freight trans- portation demand, (8) The effects of changing patterns of freight movement on transportation planning decisions related to rest areas, (9) Other research areas to identify and address emerging and future research needs related to freight transportation by all modes.” Program guidance is provided by an Oversight Committee comprised of a rep- resentative cross section of freight stake- holders appointed by the National Research NATIONAL COOPERATIVE FREIGHT RESEARCH PROGRAM Sponsored by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration

Council of The National Academies. The NCFRP Oversight Committee meets annually to formulate the research program by identifying the highest pri- ority projects and defining funding levels and ex- pected products. Research problem statements rec- ommending research needs for consideration by the Oversight Committee are solicited annually, but may be submitted to TRB at any time. See NCFRP website www.TRB.org/NCFRP. INTRODUCTION America’s freight transportation system makes critical contributions to the nation’s economy, se- curity, and quality of life. In 2010, $1.2 trillion (about 8.3 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product) was spent annually to move freight, and the cost and volume of goods movement are crucial to the productivity of the entire U.S. economy. The freight transportation system in the United States is a complex, decentralized, and dynamic net- work of private and public entities, involving all modes of transportation—trucking, rail, waterways, air, and pipelines. In recent years, the demand for freight transportation service has been increasing fueled by growth in international trade; however, bottlenecks or congestion points in the system are ex- posing the inadequacies of current infrastructure and operations to meet the growing demand for freight. U.S. domestic freight, measured by ton mileage, is ex- pected to grow by some 50 percent in the next 20 years. Strategic operational and investment deci- sions by governments at all levels will be necessary to maintain freight system performance, and will in turn require sound technical guidance based on research. The NCFRP will produce a series of research reports and other products such as guidebooks for practitioners. Primary emphasis will be placed on dis- seminating NCFRP results to the intended end-users of the research: freight shippers and carriers, service providers, suppliers, and public officials. Relevant industry associations will play a key role in making research information available through their commit- tee structures. The NCFRP may arrange for work- shops, training aids, field visits, technology scans, and other activities to ensure that results are implemented by practitioners. THE NCFRP The NCFRP is managed using procedures mod- eled after those used by TRB in managing the Na- tional Cooperative Highway Research Program and other cooperative research programs. TRB solicits potential research problem statements from all par- ties. The NCFRP Oversight Committee selects and prioritizes these research needs based on the funding available. Each selected project is assigned to a panel, appointed by TRB, which provides technical guid- ance and counsel throughout the life of the project. Heavy emphasis is placed on including members representing the intended users of the research prod- ucts. The panels prepare requests for proposals (RFPs) and select contractors, guide the projects, and review reports. Day-to-day program manage- ment is provided by NCFRP staff and includes the following tasks: • Assisting the Oversight Committee in identify- ing and prioritizing research needs; • Appointing and coordinating expert technical panels to guide research projects; • Developing and distributing RFPs; • Processing and evaluating proposals to select the best qualified research agencies; • Executing contracts with the selected re- searchers; • Guiding the research; • Reviewing research reports; • Publishing and disseminating research re- ports; and • Promoting the application of research results. SELECTION OF RESEARCH PROJECTS The NCFRP Oversight Committee meets annually to select research projects that will inform investment and operations decisions affecting the performance of the freight transportation system. The membership of this committee is given in Table 1. The Oversight Committee has met 5 times and selected 43 projects for funding. Table 2 is a list of the projects—see the NCFRP website for details. Table 3 shows the list of NCFRP publications. 2

Table 1 NCFRP Oversight Committee* Chair Lillian Borrone Consultant Vice Chair C. Randal Mullet Con-Way, Inc. Secretary Christopher W. Jenks TRB Member Keith J. Bucklew Indiana DOT Member Christina S. Casgar San Diego Association of Governments Member Thomas M. Corsi University of Maryland Member Emil Frankel Bipartisan Policy Center Member John T. Gray Association of American Railroads Member Rodney Gregory Department of Defense Member Jeffrey D. Holt BMO Capital Markets, Inc. Member John Isbell Starboard Alliance, LLC Member Barbara A. Ivanov Washington State DOT Member Gloria J. Jeff District of Columbia DOT Member Catherine T. Lawson State University of New York–Albany Member Eric G. Madden American Council of Engineering Companies of PA Member John C. Morris Cushman & Wakefield Member Paul Nowicki BNSF Railway Member Craig Philip Ingram Barge Company Member Thomas H. Wakeman, III Stevens Institute of Technology Ex Officio Member Gregory D. Winfree Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. DOT Ex Officio Member Anthony T. Furst Federal Highway Administration, U.S. DOT Ex Officio Member Randolph R. Resor Office of the Secretary of Transportation, U.S. DOT Agency Liaison Thomas Bolle Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. DOT Agency Liaison Bruce Carlton National Industrial Transportation League Agency Liaison Ronald J. Duych Bureau of Transportation Statistics Agency Liaison John Horsley AASHTO Agency Liaison Leo Penne AASHTO Agency Liaison Caesar Singh Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. DOT Agency Liaison John Steinhoff Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. DOT Agency Liaison Martin Walker Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. DOT *Current as of November 2011. 3

4Table 2 NCFRP Research Projects, FY 2006–2011* NCFRP 01 Review and Analysis of Freight Transportation Markets and Relationships (Completed) NCFRP 02 Impacts of Public Policy on the Freight Transportation System NCFRP 03 Performance Measures for Freight Transportation (Completed) NCFRP 04 Identifying and Using Low-Cost and Quickly Implementable Ways to Address Freight-System Mobility Constraints (Completed) NCFRP 05 Framework and Tools for Estimating Benefits of Specific Freight Network Investment Needs (Completed) NCFRP 5A A Strategy for Investing in Priority Categories of Freight Projects (Cancelled) NCFRP 06 Freight Demand Modeling to Support Public-Sector Decision Making (Completed) NCFRP 6A Design Competition for New Approaches to Freight Demand Modeling (Cancelled) NCFRP 6B Peer Exchange on Developing Freight Modeling Capacity (Cancelled) NCFRP 07 (Combined with NCFRP-04) NCFRP 08 (Combined with NCFRP-05) NCFRP 09 Institutional Arrangements in the Freight Transportation System (Completed) NCFRP 10 Separation of Vehicles—CMV-only Lanes (Completed) NCFRP 11 Identification and Evaluation of Freight Demand Factors NCFRP 12 Specifications for Freight Transportation Data Architecture (Completed) NCFRP 13 Developing High Productivity Truck Corridors (Cancelled) NCFRP 14 Truck Drayage Practices (Completed) NCFRP 15A Understanding Urban Goods Movement NCFRP 16 Representing Freight in Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Models (Completed) NCFRP 17 North American Marine Highway Operations (Completed) NCFRP 17(01) Marine Highway Transport of Toxic Inhalation Hazard (TIH) Materials NCFRP 18 Synthesis of International Freight Scans NCFRP 19 Truck Tolling—Understanding Industry Tradeoffs When Using or Avoiding Toll Facilities NCFRP 20 Guidebook for Developing Sub-national Commodity Flow Data NCFRP 21 Accessing Private Data for Transportation Planning: Effective Practices and Promising Options (Cancelled) NCFRP 22 Applying Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) to Freight Project Selection: Lessons from the Corps of Engineers NCFRP 23 Economic and Transportation Drivers for Siting Freight Intermodal and Warehouse Distribution Facilities NCFRP 24 Preserving and Protecting Freight Infrastructure and Routes NCFRP 25 Freight Trip Generation and Land Use NCFRP 26 Freight Transportation Cost Data Elements NCFRP 27 Promoting Environmental Goals in Freight Transportation Through Industry Benchmarking NCFRP 28 Truck Idling Scoping Study NCFRP 29 New Dedicated Revenue Mechanisms for Freight Transportation Investment NCFRP 30 Web-Based Screening Tool for Shared-Use Rail Corridors NCFRP 31 Overcoming Barriers to Sharing Freight Transportation Data NCFRP 32 Impact of Smart Growth on Metropolitan Goods Movement NCFRP 33 Impact of Environmental Regulations on the Supply Chain NCFRP 34 Evaluating Alternatives for Landside Transport of Ocean Containers NCFRP 35 Multimodal Freight Transportation Within the Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence Basin NCFRP 36 Quick Response for Special Needs NCFRP 37 Port Resiliency in the Extended Intermodal Supply Chain NCFRP 38 Improving Freight System Performance in Metropolitan Areas NCFRP 39 Making Trucks Count: Innovative Strategies for Obtaining Comprehensive Truck Activity Data NCFRP 40 Improving Export Freight Logistics NCFRP 41 Capacity and Level of Service Analysis for Trucks NCFRP 42 Integrating MTS Commerce Data with Multimodal Freight Transportation Performance Measures to Support MTS Maintenance Investment Decision Making NCFRP 43 Guidebook for Assessing Evolving International Container Chassis Supply Models *See the NCFRP website for project status at www.trb.org/CRP/NCFRP/NCFRP.asp

5Table 3 Publications of the NCFRP Reports No. Proj. No. Title, Pages, Publication Year 1 01 Public and Private Sector Interdependence in Freight Transportation Markets, 68 p. (2009) 2 09 Institutional Arrangements for Freight Transportation Systems (& CD 72), 65 p. (2009) 3 10 Separation of Vehicles–CMV-Only Lanes, 108 p. (2010) 4 16 Representing Freight in Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Models, 172 p. (2010) 5 17 North American Marine Highways, 108 p. (2010) 6 02 Impacts of Public Policy on the Freight Transportation System (Revised) 7 04 Identifying and Using Low-Cost and Quickly Implementable Ways to Address Freight-System Mobility Constraints (& CD 87), 140 p. (2010) 8 06 Freight-Demand Modeling to Support Public-Sector Decision Making, 64 p. (2010) 9 12 Guidance for Developing a Freight Transportation Data Architecture, 106 p. (2010) 10 03 Performance Measures for Freight Transportation, 172 p. (2011) 11 14 Truck Drayage Productivity Guide (& CD 97), 106 p. (2011) 12 05 Framework and Tools for Estimating Benefits of Specific Freight Network Investments, 132 p. (2011) 13 23 Freight Facility Location Selection: A Guide for Public Officials, 70 p. (2011) CDs No. Proj. No. Title, Publication Year 72 09 Appendix Material for NCFRP Report 2 (2009) 87 04 Low-Cost Improvement Analysis Tool (for NCFRP Report 7) (2010) 97 14 Supplemental Materials for NCFRP Project 14 (& Rep. 11) (2011)

ISBN 978-0-309-21357-8 9 780309 213578 9 0 0 0 0 Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 These digests are issued in order to increase awareness of research results emanating from projects in the Cooperative Research Programs (CRP). Persons wanting to pursue the project subject matter in greater depth should contact the CRP Staff, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION 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. Subscriber Categories: Freight Transportation • Marine Transportation • Motor Carriers • Railroads