Office of Freight Management and Operations (HOFM) - Status and Future Directions Tony Furst, Director

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 2 Office of Operations Associate Administrator Office of Operations Director Office of Transportation Operations Director Office of Transportation Management Director Office of Freight Management & Operations

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 3 Office of Freight Management and Operations – The Context  25% of the U.S. GDP is related to trade and is predicted to grow to 35% in the next 20 years.  Freight volume moved by all modes of transportation is predicted to nearly double by  Many of our highways, railroads, and intermodal facilities are running out of capacity to accommodate anticipated volumes of freight.  Congestion impedes timely and reliable freight movements and threatens business productivity.  Freight movements cross state and metropolitan boundaries are served primarily by the private sector and are hard to accommodate by traditional public institutions.

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 4 A Matter of Perspective Public Sector (States, MPOs) PASSENGERS Private Sector (Shippers, Carriers) FREIGHT Global National Regional Local

Truck volumes on major highways –

Congested highways –

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 7 Office of Freight Management and Operations – The Context  Security, safety, environmental, and other concerns are competing with the need for efficient, reliable flows of freight.  Without improvements in technology, operations, infrastructure, and institutions the cost of goods will increase, global competitiveness will be reduced, jobs will be lost, and passenger travel by highway and rail will be in increasing conflict with freight movements.

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 8 Office of Freight Management and Operations – Objectives Support the productivity and economic benefits of freight transportation  Understand the magnitude and geography of freight moving on the nation’s transportation system  Develop strategies, analytical tools, institutional arrangements, and professional capacities for all levels of government to address freight movement  Enforce commercial vehicle size and weight requirements  Encourage innovative freight technology & operations

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 9 Office of Freight Management and Operations – Major Activities  Policy  Analysis  Freight Professional Development  Vehicle Size and Weight Enforcement  Freight Technology & Operations

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 10 Freight Policy

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 11 Freight Analysis Reduce congestion and improve mobility by providing analytic capability to transportation managers, planners and policy developers regarding freight transportation

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 12 Freight Analysis Framework (FAF)  Commodity flows by origin and destination for truck, rail, and water in 1998, 2010, 2020  Planned improvements: update base year to 2002 Economic Census, improve coverage, identify hazmat flows, time of day estimates, provisional estimates of current year freight activity, etc.  Applications: policy-sensitive mode split model, links to policy models, scenario forecasts  Assure continuation of data sources and explore new data sources 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 13 Beyond FAF  Travel time in freight-significant corridors and border crossing delay  Drive coherent freight data to the people who make transportation investments  State freight profiles  The Freight Story. Intermodal Connectors, Condition and Performance Report, etc. 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 14 Freight Model Improvement Program  Freight forecasts for facility planning, revenue forecasting, air quality concerns, etc.  Freight responds to different forces than passenger travel and needs different models  Improve existing tools and state of practice  Identify research needs and longer term model development 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 15 Economics Understanding the Relationship between Transportation Infrastructure Investment and the Economy

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 16 The Issues  From 1980 to 2002, truck travel on US highways grew by 90% while lane-miles of public roads grew by only 5%.  U.S. rail traffic is at or near segment capacity in intermodal corridors and new tracks are not being laid down.  Short Sea Shipping lanes are not currently an intermodal routing option.  Between 1998 and 2020, US freight volume (all modes) is expected to increase from 15 billion to 25.5 billion tons (70%.)

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 17 The Issues  Between 1998 and 2020, the value of US freight (all modes) is expected to increase from $9 trillion to $30 trillion (233%.)  Between 1998 and 2020, the percentage of urban interstates carrying 10,000 or more trucks will increase from 27% to 69%.  Public and private investment is needed to accommodate increasing demand.  Potential investment in capacity expansion and operational improvement (including ITS applications) will have to compete with existing infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 18 The Big Picture  It is widely acknowledged that the health of the national economy is reliant on a functional transportation network.  However, there is no universally accepted means by which to calculate the economic benefits associated with transportation improvements.  FHWA seeks to create a series of models and methodologies that can be used by transportation planners to make a more complete evaluation of the relative economic value of alternative transportation system improvements, in order to better build the case that transportation improvements enabling improved freight flows lead to economic growth and development.

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 19 Key Questions  What is the nature and magnitude of the relationship between transportation investments and the performance of the freight services sector, of other economic sectors (e.g. labor), and of the overall economy?  How robust are these relationships when the transportation infrastructure investments are made in different contexts (i.e. capacity expansion vs. operational enhancement)?  What role does transportation investment play in the reorganization of logistics processes (evolution of the supply chain)?

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 20 Key Questions  How do freight shippers and carriers weigh transportation improvements in the development of their business models?  As freight transportation cost and service improvements promote market expansion and integration, what interactive changes occur in labor, land and product markets within and between various economic sectors and regions?

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 21 State of the Practice (Macroeconomic)  Transportation Spending and GDP are positively correlated.  Research has shown that economic benefits associated with highway spending have decreased over time as there has been a shift from construction to operations and maintenance spending.  More and better roads reduce overall logistics costs (at a given output level) by making it faster and cheaper to move raw materials and finished products.  Lower costs are passed through to consumers, demand increases, output grows.

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 22 State of the Practice (Microeconomic)  Economic benefits from transportation system improvements are dependent on time-frame. o Short-run: Operating cost (rate) reduction, transit time savings (no change in operations) o Medium-run: Transportation replaces inventory, total logistics cost savings o Long-run: Supply-Chain modification, facility location and vehicle fleet changes

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 23 State of the Practice (General Equilibrium)  Benefits from transportation infrastructure improvements vary by region.  Improvements lead to redistribution of resources and regional specialization. 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 24 Current Research  FHWA’s efforts to determine the magnitude of the long-run benefits associated with infrastructure improvements o Properly define the relationships that exist between the transportation network and the economy, by time-frame. (Completed, Phase I) o Estimate the long-run impact of transportation system changes on the economy using the best available metrics and data sources. (Completed, Phase II) Preliminary estimate is a15% mark-up over short and medium-run benefits captured under traditional BCA. o Pursue the development of models that can reliably determine the value of the benefits associated with transportation investment, on a national and regional level, using available data or identify needed data not currently available. (Underway) o Verify, validate, calibrate, refine and update models. (Future) o Deploy and implement models. (Future)

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 25 Freight Professional Development (FPD) Reduce congestion and improve mobility by providing training and analytic tools to transportation managers, planners and policy developers regarding freight transportation

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 26 Freight Professional Development  Listening sessions to identify current needs  NHI courses, workshops, and other traditional approaches to training and peer-to-peer exchange  New approaches such as the “Talking Freight” series  Resource Library  Long range strategies to develop the next generation of freight professionals  Virtual Freight Team / Freight Council 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 27 Commercial Vehicle Size and Weight Improve the physical condition of the highway transportation system by effective application of size and weight standards and technologies

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 28 Commercial Vehicle Size and Weight  Facilitate & support effective State enforcement of Federal Size & Weight requirements thru training, policy interpretation, & technology advancement.  Support & assist the automated reporting of data on State activities.  Provide interactive, real-time website communication for stakeholders on emerging issues, legislation & research activities.

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 29 Commercial Vehicle Size and Weight  OS/OW study relative to infrastructure  Technology applications  VWS  Provide immediate customer service on inquiries & concerns associated with commercial vehicle size and weight matters. 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 30 Freight Technology & Operations Improve freight efficiency and global connectivity by identifying and facilitating the deployment of technology and operations Receiver Motor/ Rail Carrier Port Carrier Shipper Motor/ Rail Port Carrier Ocean

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 31 Freight Technology & Operations  Tier I / Tier II (ITS / JPO)  Electronic Freight Manifest o Standards Development o Information Highway  Integrated Corridor Management System  Road Weather

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 32 Freight Technology & Operations  Tier II  Freight Process Mapping Enhancement  Border ITS integration  Project Selectivity Cost/Benefit  Border Wizard 

Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 33 Office of Freight Management and Operations – Organization Tony Furst, Director Rose Skerkavich, Secretary Rolf Schmitt, Policy Team Bob Davis, Vehicle Size and Weight Team Mike Onder, Freight Technology & Ops Team

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