A Compendium for Communicating the Value of Freight and Community Interactions

Many local and regional planning and transportation initiatives focus primarily on the movement of people, without adequate consideration of the movement of goods. Freight is a critical component of the national and international transportation system that moves more than 52 million tons of goods every day through U.S. highways, railways, waterways, airports, pipelines, and freight shipments. The relevance of the freight transportation system has been further accentuated by the increasing demand for e-commerce delivery from U.S. households, which is projected to increase by 22 percent over the next 20 years according to the 2020 National Freight Strategic Plan. Despite its importance to local communities and the economy, many planning, transportation, and government professionals and the general public do not fully comprehend freight’s value, its connection to land use and other transportation uses, or how best to address impacts of the freight system. Currently, resources and toolkits are available to support freight professionals with implementing specific freight strategies, but resources to improve the public dialogue about the importance, impacts, and interconnectedness of freight with our day-to-day lives are limited. As urbanization and changing technologies drive the growing freight volumes and disruption of the transportation system, it is imperative for freight officials to effectively communicate the importance of freight to stakeholders and the general public. Research is needed to communicate best practices for the value, interactions, and impacts of freight and community. The objective of this research is to develop a compendium that provides state departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and relevant stakeholders with a resource for communicating the value of freight and community interactions.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5136
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $350000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 08-158

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  McKenney, Christopher

• Start Date: 20230501
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Case studies; Communication; Communities; Economic impacts; Environmental justice; Equity; Freight traffic; Freight transportation; Impacts; Infrastructure; Stakeholders
• Subject Areas: Economics; Environment; Freight Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01772925
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 08-158
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 25 2021 9:44PM