Logistics Solutions in the Supply Chain: Economic Benefits of Safety and Environmental Impacts

The proposed study will investigate the contribution of logistics facilities (e.g. transload, intermodal, or freight consolidation facilities) to safety and health benefits in the transportation of hazardous materials and other freight. Logistics models have been developed, such as the Nebraska Supply Chain Optimization Model (NESCOM), that estimate changes in costs to manufacturing, wholesale and other firms which use logistics facilities to substitute rail trips for long-haul truck trips. From the perspective of benefit and cost analysis, these changes in costs primarily reflect internalized worker travel time and vehicle operating costs associated with travel. These models, however, do not measure and include external safety (e.g. accidents avoided) and health (e.g. pollution avoided) benefits of investments in logistics facilities. The proposed study would evaluate such safety and health benefits, creating a model which can be used to supplement existing models such as NESCOM. A team of civil engineers and economists will examine the broad literature on truck and rail safety and health costs, and how those vary based on local traffic and socio-economic conditions, utilizing widely available socio-economic and traffic data maintained by state Departments of Transportation. The research team also will apply the model to a specific logistics facility example within the state of Nebraska.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $233795
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747107

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  1400 R Street
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68588
• Principal Investigators:

  Khattak, Aemal

  Thompson, Eric

• Start Date: 20210401
• Expected Completion Date: 20220630
• Actual Completion Date: 20240630
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
• Source Data: RiP Project 91994-92

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Freight transportation; Hazardous materials; Health; Logistics; Optimization; Railroad safety; Safety; Supply chain management; Trucking safety
• Geographic Terms: Nebraska
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01778671
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747107
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 4 2021 12:24PM