Evaluating the resilience of port operations to local and regional transportation infrastructure

This project will develop a quantitative model of the local and regional road and rail network that serves a port, and the flow of goods to and from the port. The goal of the project is to develop a reusable quantitative framework to assess questions relating to the port road transportation system. The framework will be used in a specific single port case study to investigate two research questions relevant to this goal: (1) The resilience of (a specified) port operations to transportation related disruptions and (2) The resilience of transportation infrastructure and operations to port expansion or development. The goal and objectives will be achieved by developing a spatially and temporarily explicit model of routes and travel times between a selected case-study port and local and regional (i.e., statewide) commodity sources/destinations (the case study will be selected during the project and following a review). Once developed, the model will be used to evaluate the aforementioned port-ground transportation resilience questions in line with recent Army Corps of Engineers guidance on assessing resilience (“Maritime Transportation System Resilience Assessment Guide”). Specifically, this will be achieved by perturbing the base model to simulate disturbances such as changes in ground transport operations (e.g., road closures, policy) or changes in port operations. The quantitative results of these disturbance simulations will then be combined with qualitative experiential knowledge to develop a complete picture of the vulnerabilities of the port-hinterland system (both local and regional). In line with the goal of the project, the research team will document the challenges and resources required to develop the model and provide a commentary on the utility of the framework for evaluating the resilience of other port-ground transportation systems.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $138000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747130

• 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:

  Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center

  University of Arkansas
  Fayetteville, AR  United States  72701
• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

  400 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South
  Suite 300
  College Station, TX  United States  77845-4375
• Principal Investigators:

  Kruse, Jim

  Birt, Andrew

• Start Date: 20211201
• Expected Completion Date: 20230831
• Actual Completion Date: 20230831
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Disaster resilience; Freight traffic; Port operations; Routes; Service disruption; Travel time
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01829703
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747130
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 9 2021 4:05PM