The Freight Transportation Planning Workshop, held in Detroit, Michigan July 10-12, 2001, provided an opportunity for more than 60 members of the transportation planning community to identify and begin development of workable approaches that can help assist State Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with their continuous effort to further integrate freight interests and considerations in the transportation planning process.  The workshop was targeted at transportation officials seeking better ways to address freight issues in public decision-making though carriers and shippers seeking improved facilities and a greater voice in planning were encouraged to attend, as were state and local departments of transportation, metropolitan and regional planning organizations, railroads, ports, and airports.  Ultimately the objective of the workshop was to provide a resource for addressing freight issues in the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21) re-authorization process.  The results of this workshop are provided in these Conference Proceedings and Guidebook package to provide a resource to state and local transportation planners who want to improve the consideration of freight in their jurisdiction.  This package includes a summary of Conference Proceedings, a Guidebook for helping transportation planners improve the consideration of freight in their planning activities, and supplemental resources to include summaries of breakout group ideas on how to improve the transportation planning process, their recommendations for improving freight planning, stakeholder presentations, workshop participant contact list, and conference materials.

Workshop participants came from 16 states, Ontario Canada, and Washington D.C. and represented various public and private sector interests, including:

·         MPOs and Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs)

·         Local government planning organizations

·         U.S Post Office

·         Private sector shippers and carriers

·         Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

·         Federal Rail Administration (FRA)

·         Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)

·         Maritime Administration

·         State DOTs

The Detroit workshop was one of several freight outreach events planned by FHWA with the purpose of developing recommendations to improve the consideration of freight in the transportation planning process, with respect to financing and multi-jurisdictional coordination, and to improve the effectiveness of planning and programming from a freight perspective. These outreach events result from the fact that over the past 20 years the transportation planning process has focused primarily on passenger needs and the focus must be expanded to include freight transportation needs, as freight volume is projected to nearly double by 2020.  Several issues must be addressed in order to make improvements to freight transportation:

·         Funding, and access to funding, for freight projects is constrained and representation is lacking for certain freight modes

·         There is a lack of freight data with which to make informed policy decisions

·         There is limited coordination between the public and private sectors, as well as among different jurisdictions

·         The public is not well educated about freight transportation and its criticality to the nation’s economy

Each of the outreach events has addressed these issues and generated recommendations for solutions, primarily in the financial and institutional arenas.  These recommendations will be reflected in a series of reports, produced by the USDOT, which will influence upcoming legislation in the reauthorization of TEA-21.

The Detroit workshop sought to examine the existing transportation planning process and consider ways to make it more responsive to freight concerns.  It was designed to be a working meeting with the opportunity for participants, in a large group followed by breakout sessions, to explore the issues in depth and offer ideas.  The goal was to identify and begin the development of workable approaches that can help assist States and MPOs with their continuous effort to further integrate freight interests and considerations into the transportation planning process.  Specifically the workshop sought to:

·        Increase awareness of the importance of freight transportation in our economy,

·        Explore methods for incorporating freight issues into transportation planning, and

·        Identify ways to improve freight operations, and identify funding options for enhancing the movement of freight. 

The FHWA Office of Freight Management and the Michigan Division of FHWA designed the agenda to provide a foundation for discussion through an exchange of perspectives from the various stakeholders in freight system, both private and public, in a large group forum, followed by two breakout sessions where participants then identified and developed ideas on how to enhance the existing planning process to better respond to freight issues.  The first breakout session consisted of a brainstorming session where participants identified as many opportunities for improvement as possible in eleven different areas (see Figure X) and then prioritized those ideas and opportunities.  The goal of the second breakout session was to build on the opportunities identified in the first session by developing proposals for implementing changes and enhancements to the planning process to better address freight issues.  The proposals defined the opportunities and how they could work and identified potential institutional, technical, and legislative changes.

Participants summarized their ideas in presentations which described the opportunity for improvement, the type of changes needed to make the opportunity work (technical, institutional, legislative, etc.), the success criteria needed to make the opportunity work, and the first steps required to implement the opportunity.  The results of their shared ideas on how the transportation process can be improved to better address freight needs have been packaged here to serve as a resource to transportation planners.  The workshop closed with an open mic session, which allowed participants to ask questions, voice additional concerns, and add comments. 

The purpose of the workshop was to examine the existing transportation planning process and consider ways to make it more responsive to freight concerns.  It was designed to be a working meeting with opportunity for participants, in small groups, to explore the issues in depth and offer ideas.  The goal was to identify and begin the development of workable approaches that can help assist States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with their continuous effort to further integrate freight interests and considerations into the transportation planning process.

The workshop also enlightened participants on freight trends, issues and forecasts in order to understand the need and the criticality of planning improvements.  Stakeholders across the planning process, from Federal, State, and Local government organizations to private sector shippers and carriers, presented a variety of perspectives that shape and influence planning priorities.  These perspectives helped participants to better understand sometimes conflicting priorities but also, and perhaps more importantly, the shared interests and areas of common ground across the stakeholders.

As discussed earlier, the stakeholder presentations provided background on important freight trends and issues and the various stakeholder perspectives on these issues.  The understandings gained from these presentations enabled participants to make more insightful recommendations and to better identify those with the highest likelihood for success within the various stakeholder positions that they would affect in terms of changes to the freight transportation planning process.  Synopses of these stakeholder perspectives as foundations for discussion follow and are provided in Appendix D.

Representatives from FHWA, as well as State and local planning organizations and private sector shippers and carriers were chosen in order to give various perspectives on freight and the transportation planning process.  They began with Introductory Remarks, followed by perspectives from the Private Sector, State Department of Transportations, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and finally National perspectives.

3.1 Introductory Remarks

The stakeholder perspectives were introduced by workshop sponsors who welcomed participants and noted that to succeed in a global economy, a nation must first have transportation.  They encouraged MPOs to actively engage the private sector and to bridge the public/private sector gap, and enjoined participants to imagine new strategies to satisfy economic/trade growth demands while balancing quality of life.  They emphasized that these strategies must start with the planning process. 

3.2 Private Sector Perspectives

Four speakers representing shippers and carriers in the private sector presented their perspectives.  They noted that public sector rules discourage the private industry from tapping into public resources.  They also emphasized the need for improved communication and that intermodal traffic holds key for solving congestion on highways and borders.  They stated that transportation officials must become “champions of freight” and reach out to freight stakeholders to involve them, build trust, and listen to their feedback and inputs. 

Carriers noted that their industry is driven by the economics of just-in-time transportation and that they have become a mobile warehouse.  They cited the following improvements they would most like to see:

·        Implementation of commercial lanes in metro districts, 

·        Implementation of universal “EZ pass” for all interstate toll roads, 

·        More capacity on roadways, 

·        Improvements in the science of road material, 

·        Common rules for long combination vehicles,

·        Road and fuel tax simplification, and

·        Anything that can eliminate redundancies, paper, and administrative hassle.

Recommendations they made for addressing safety issues included:

·        Creating a carrier-based task force to define hours of service limitations to ensure all drivers have adequate rest,

·        Providing sufficient rest areas and parking at many restaurants,

·        Implementing a common driver license information system,

·        Implementing automatic weather alert and road hazard closing reports, and

·        Educating the public on how to share the road with the trucks.

Representatives from the trucking industry offered the following recommendations to address unpredictability issues on the road including:

·        Improving incident management,

·        Developing sensible Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications,

·        Improving access control and signalization, and

·        Improving parking and loading facilities. 

They closed by noting that when issues are brought to the public sector, there should be responsive dialogue.  They emphasized the need for a multi-modal perspective—which considers the benefits of rail, highway, and marine transportation.

3.3 State Department of Transportation Perspectives

Three speakers from the states of Ohio, Maine, and Washington presented state DOT perspectives.  They collectively emphasized the need for:

·        Balance across modes and interest groups

·        A continued flow of ideas

·        Leadership at the top

·        Communication with key stakeholders, and

·        Incremental improvements to relationships over time.

The state of Ohio representative emphasized that good planning begins with good data and highlighted some of their planning successes that were made possible through the smart use of good freight flow data.  The state of Maine DOT representative highlighted the effectiveness of personally reaching out to stakeholders through phone calls and quarterly meetings that involve all players.  The state of Washington representative noted that successful freight planning requires sharing costs, responsibilities, and risks as well as the rewards/benefits and emphasized the need to retain a long-term perspective in freight planning. 

3.4 Metropolitan Planning Organization Perspectives (MPO)

Three speakers presented perspectives from MPOs noting the increased awareness of freight issues and progress in the free movement of ideas regarding freight.  They acknowledged that public agencies are not used to sharing information on what is being done with freight and that planners are just beginning to come to grips with understanding data.  They also highlighted issues with timeframes, noting that the long-range focus on the public side is not consistent with short-term operational needs of the private sector. They noted the use of advisory committees to help guide how best to address freight issues and emphasized the value of public/private partnerships and multi-modal partnerships.  Finally, the idea of applying a standard “freight factor” to pass-through freight was also raised by this perspective. 

3.5 National Perspectives

The final perspective represented was the National perspective, presented by two speakers from FHWA.  Overarching national transportation goals were highlighted and included safety, mobility, economic growth, human and natural environments, and national security.  Planners were cautioned to think “freight” when planning our transportation system, to ensure it in fact remains a “system.”  FHWA also highlighted other issues including the need for planners to think as freight moves—regionally rather than locally—and the continued need for prioritization of freight projects. 

FHWA’s latest Freight Forecasting Analysis Tools were also reviewed and the following next steps were identified:

·        Conducting capacity analyses related to highway system,

·        Evaluating a series of what-if questions working with other FHWA offices to link to truck diversion models,

·        Analyzing travel time in significant corridors,

·        Conducting cost-benefit analyses of freight specific projects,

·        Developing planning toolkits, and

·        Working with other DOT agencies (MARAD, USACE, Office of Intermodalism). 

More information can be found on the forecast assumptions at www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight. 

After exposure to the perspectives in freight planning, participants were invited to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in the transportation planning process and then to flesh out top priority opportunities.  Two breakout sessions were held over the course of the workshop, with the objective being to first identify and prioritize opportunities to enhance the planning process to better address freight issues, and to then develop priority recommendations into proposals for implementing the changes required to enhance the planning process.  Specific goals of the breakout sessions were stated as follows:

·        Look at the current planning process,

·        Assess its ability to respond to freight issues,

·        Identify opportunities for improvement that will enhance freight planning, and

·        Define what changes would be necessary to make the opportunities work.

The breakout sessions were comprised of six groups with eight to ten participants from a variety of backgrounds (engineers, planners, business, administration, etc.) representing all stakeholder perspectives (National, State, MPO, and private sector). The first breakout session sought to identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement in freight planning within eleven areas of the transportation planning process.  Numerous opportunities for improvement were identified by the breakout groups and then prioritized.  The top twelve opportunities for improvement were selected for further development in the second breakout session, in which participants identified what was required to make the opportunities work, what types of changes were required (ie., technical, process, legislative, etc.), , and first steps for implementation.  These recommendations formed Opportunity Proposals for Better Freight Planning, found in Appendix B, designed to help transportation planners across all levels to individually and collectively improve the consideration of freight in transportation planning.

4.1 Identify Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities (Breakout Session 1)

Transportation planning in the public sector takes many forms depending on the collective issues and policies of the responsible implementing agencies and their planning organizations.  In order to establish a common base during the Detroit freight Transportation Planning Workshop, a broad planning framework was used that captures the major steps and elements familiar to most public sector transportation planners.  This planning framework is illustrated in Figure 1. 

Figure 1:  Transportation Planning Process

The process, described in Figure 1, includes five primary sequential steps shown in green within the large oval.  These steps are:

1.       Identify and analyze issues and deficiencies (current and future)

2.       Develop and evaluate alternatives and establish priorities

3.       Prepare and adopt the Long Range Plan (LRP)—includes both short and long range strategies and improvements

4.       Prepare and adopt the State Transportation Improvement Program and metro area Transportation Improvement Programs (S/TIP)

5.       Implement.

The six smaller ovals on the outside of Figure 1, shown in blue, represent the factors that influence the process including: 

1.       Goals and Objectives

2.       Organization

3.       Public/Agency involvement

4.       Data

5.       Technical tools

6.       Financial plan

Throughout the workshop the participants were asked to examine the process in this generic format for strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities that would enhance the consideration of the movement of freight.  A more detailed planning framework is provided in Appendix A, entitled “Overview of the Transportation Planning Process.”

In the first breakout session, participants were asked to evaluate each element in the process and identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in the process areas.  More than 200 ideas were generated through active discussions in the eleven process areas.  A summary of these ideas as well as a synthesis of the output from the breakout groups can be found in Appendix C. 

Strengths cited in the planning process included federal support for MPOs; the existence of established public involvement procedures; the availability of data, good forecasting/engineering, congestion management and cost-benefit models, the fact that MPOs are increasingly thinking intermodally, and the fact that the process for identifying deficiencies is well-established.  Weaknesses cited included insufficient emphasis on “freight” objectives in goal setting, modal thinking, difficulty dealing with global nature of freight at the local level, lack of regional coordination, lack of sufficient participation in process by some key stakeholders, lack of understanding on the part of the public of the benefits of freight, inability to effectively leverage available data for meaningful analysis as well as the absence of freight/intermodal data, absence of a “systems” perspective in freight planning, and issues with the long-range planning timeframe and financial constraints to vision.

Participants were asked to identify as many opportunities for enhancing the planning process (from a freight perspective) as possible with the goal being to get as many ideas as possible on paper.  Opportunities for improvement that were developed included involving non USDOT federal agencies as well as the private sector in freight planning, improving regional coordination, creating a freight data architecture, developing integrated toolsets and linking models that could better serve regional needs, co-mingling funds to support freight projects of public benefit, prioritizing movement of people and goods above modes, improving private/public sector coordination, developing unconstrained visions. 

Once all the ideas were listed, participants then prioritized the opportunities by allocating one vote to the opportunity they viewed as the most important for each of the eleven total process areas.  The twelve opportunities were identified, including at least one opportunity from each process area, and then further developed by the breakout groups in the second breakout session. 

4.2 Opportunity Proposals for Enhancing the Consideration of Freight in the Planning Process (Breakout Session 2)

Each breakout group was assigned two high priority opportunities for improvement and was challenged to develop proposals for implementing the recommended changes and enhancements to the planning process to better address freight issues.  They were asked to define “what the opportunity is and how it could work” and to identify potential institutional, technical, and legislative changes the change might require.  These proposals are summarized in “Opportunity Proposals for Better Freight Planning” in Appendix B as well as in each group’s summary of their recommendations, which can be found in Appendix C.

On the final day of the conference, each breakout group presented their proposals to enhance the consideration of freight in the planning process to all participants and an open mic session was held for any further discussion.  Several common themes emerged from the conference, both through the stakeholder perspectives and the breakout groups. These themes and their accompanying discussions are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 - Key Themes and Discussion that Emerged from the Conference

Theme	Discussion
Need to think in terms of “freight” and “passenger” transportation versus modes	Planning by mode tends to limit the solution set and precludes intermodal choices.
Need to establish Freight-Specific Performance Measures	It is difficult to know if we are meeting freight needs if we don’t measure performance and understand what is important to the movement of freight.
Need to expand Public Involvement for Freight Issues	Public involvement is used here in a broad sense referring to engaging the public in transportation planning for freight as well as assuring that shippers and carriers have a voice in the process
Need to expand Freight Education/Awareness among the public and decision-makers	Both transportation decision makers and the general public need to be better informed concerning the importance of freight in our daily lives and its importance in our economy.  The investment of public funds toward efficient movement of freight will require understanding and support from both groups.  Shippers need to be fully engaged in this process, not just the carriers, since in many cases the shippers may have a greater connection with the general public.
Need to improve Analytic Models/Tools and Data Access	Current travel models forecast person trips that can be split into highway and transit modes. Similar models are needed for freight planning. Consideration will need to be given to regional, statewide and multi-state forecasting and modeling approaches.

The conference successfully accomplished the objectives of the planners as defined in the Conference Agenda.  A recap of the objectives and how they were accomplished is defined in Table 2.

Table 2 - Summary of Workshop Objectives and Achievements

Objective	How Accomplished
“The workshop will examine the existing transportation planning process and consider ways to make it more responsive to freight concerns.”	ü        Twelve representatives from every stakeholder group presented views and perspectives on what’s right and what needs improvement in the transportation planning process to be more responsive to freight. ü        Breakout groups examined every element of the planning process and identified strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in the consideration of freight.
“It will be a working meeting with opportunity for participants, in small groups, to explore the issues in depth and offer ideas.”	ü        Breakout groups explored issues in depth and developed opportunities for improvement in depth. ü        Participants exchanged ideas from small groups in large group forum to allow opportunity for full idea exchange and comment.
“The goal is to identify and begin the development of workable approaches that can help assist States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with their continuous effort to further integrate freight interests and considerations into the transportation planning process.”	ü        Through small groups in the breakout sessions, participants developed specific proposals for implementing the improvement opportunities identified, which included specific sequenced steps required, success criteria, and types of changes required.

A.  Overview of the Transportation Planning Process Msword HTML

B.  Opportunity Proposals for Better Freight Planning Msword HTML

C.  Breakout Session Results      

·          Summary Presentation of Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities and Priorities Generated by Attendees (Breakout Session 1) Powerpoint HTML

·          Raw Data from Breakout Session 1 Msword HTML

D.  Stakeholder Presentations 

·          Darrin Roth, Trucking Industry Perspectives on Freight Planning Powerpoint HTML

·          Albert M. Zahn, Con-Way Transportation Services Powerpoint HTML

·          Jill Hochman, Freight in Transportation Planning Powerpoint HTML

·          Jim Brogan, Addressing Freight in the Planning and Programming Process Powerpoint HTML

·          Jim Cramer, The Transportation Planning Process Powerpoint HTML

·          Rob Elder, Maine Department of Transportation, Office of Freight Transportation Powerpoint HTML

·          Alan Bowser, Freight Transportation: Emerging Issues for Southern California Powerpoint HTML

·          Bridget Hewitt, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments Powerpoint HTML

·          Suzann Gad, Freight Impacts on Ohio’s Transportation System Powerpoint HTML

E.  Participants List Msword HTML

F.  White Paper, “Addressing Freight in the Transportation Planning Process” Msword HTML