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Project ID: MVFC-03
Title

Model Freight Planning Approaches

PI:

Jessica Guo, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1415 Engineering Drive, 1206 EH
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 890-1064
jyguo@wisc.edu
Project Objectives:

The objectives of project MVFC-03 are:

  • To accumulate, analyze, assemble and communicate the best practices in use for freight planning. The primary product of the effort will be a manual that state and MPO planners use to assist them in preparing the freight components of their long-range plans. Since this is to be an applied product, it must be made to mesh with the requirements of the planning processes and with the level of expertise present at state and MPO planning agencies.

  • To understand the state of the art of freight planning approaches as well as best practices at the state and metropolitan levels in the U.S.

  • To understand the freight planning process currently adopted and the planning challenges faced by the state DOTs and the major MPOs in the Mississippi Valley Freight Coalition (MVFC).

  • To develop a guidebook that can be used by state and MPO planning agencies to more effectively integrate freight interests into their long-range planning process.
Project Abstract:

The Midwest Regional University Transportation Center (MRUTC) participated with six other states in the upper Midwest on the Upper Midwest Freight Corridor Study. The outcomes of this study were taken to the AASHTO’s Mississippi Valley Board of Directors for their approval (through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding) to establish a regional organization to cooperate in the planning, operation, preservation and improvement of transportation infrastructure in the Mississippi Valley region.

The Board of Directors had several requests. Those included adding three additional states in our activities (Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri), and the formation of an executive committee, technical committee and customer committee. All ten member states’ representatives on the Board of Directors then signed the MOU at their October 29, 2006 meeting in Portland.  Then during a November 30, 2006 teleconference of the MVFC Executive Committee, the charter, pooled fund, and three priority initiatives were approved.

Task Descriptions:
  1. Review and summarize federal guidance
  2. Review existing publications on best practices
  3. Develop presentation on federal guidance and requirements
  4. Develop questionnaire
  5. Conduct phone interviews and execute online survey
  6. Summarize findings from interviews and survey
  7. Identify four successful organizations at addressing freight and interview
  8. Develop a guidebook to describe current practices and recommend effective freight planning tools and strategies
  9. Develop audio PowerPoint that provides an overview of guidebook
Duration; Dates: 15 Months; April 01, 2007 - June 30, 2008
Budget:

CFIRE: $21.500; Total: $64,500
Modal Orientation: Multi-modal
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