Freight movement, port facilities, and economic competitiveness.

PDFTech ReportFHWA-GA-15-122211746Freight trafficPortsShippingTruck trafficTraffic congestionEconomic impactsCompetitionGlobal Positioning SystemHighwaysGeorgiaGeorgia. Department of Transportation. Office of ResearchRoss, Catherine L.Lee, David Jung-HwiGeorgia Tech Research CorporationUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThis research report examines how the Panama Canal expansion will affect freight at three ports, truck movementbetween the ports and inland economic hubs and the economic impacts accompanying the shift in cargo shippingpatterns. Economic impacts stemming from the Panama Canal expansion are examined with three primary researchobjectives: to profile the relationship between the Panama Canal and port activities along the East and Gulf Coastsand explore the nature of inland freight movement; to examine the implications for highway infrastructure resultingfrom a change in freight movement; and to model different scenarios of the Panama Canal expansions\u2019 impact onlocal economic activity.The analysis begins by examining 14 east and Gulf Coast ports having a combined cargo volume of over onequarter million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). The research contains a deeper analysis of the relationshipbetween highway network conditions, port activity and local and regional economies utilizing large seasonal truckGPS samples for three selected ports: the Garden City Terminal at the Port of Savannah, the Norfolk InternationalTerminals in at the Port of Virginia, and the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal at the Port of New Orleans. GPStruck data showed that congestion around the Port of New Orleans is limiting truck range compared with Savannahor Norfolk. While the Savannah area is not severely congested, main truck routes encounter congestion aroundmajor cities and highway interchanges in Georgia, and by 2040 congestion is expected to affect urban and ruralinterstates in South and North Carolin