A transportation corridor analysis toolkit.

PDFTech ReportSWUTC/13/600451-00066-1DTRT12-G-UTC06Freight transportationTransportation corridorsMultimodal transportationTruckingRailroadsOperating costsEvaluation and assessmentCase studiesTexasSouthwest Region University Transportation Center (U.S.)Seedah, Dan P.K.Walthall, Rydell D.Fullerton, GarrettOwens, Travis D.Harrison, RobertUniversity of Texas at Austin. Center for Transportation ResearchUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThe Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act includes a number of provisions advocatingimproving the condition and performance of the national freight network through targeted investments andpolicies by the Department of Transportation and state agencies. Critical to this network are freightcorridors which serve as major trade gateways connecting multiple cities and regions. However,transportation planners and policy makers are limited by the number of tools available to assess theperformance and condition of these corridors. Most current tools and models require data which is eitherunavailable, outdated or insufficient for analysis. To address this need, a truck-rail intermodal toolkit wasdeveloped for multimodal corridor analysis and enables planners and other stakeholders examine freightmovement along corridors based on mode and route characteristics. The toolkit includes techniques toacquire data for simulating line-haul movements, and models to evaluate multiple freight movementscenarios along corridors. Example analyses examining truck and rail movements along 5 mode-competitive corridors are presented in addition to a case study of the Gulf Coast Megaregion. Themethodology described herein can be used in other multistate corridors and serve as an initial assessmentof the condition and performance of the national freight network