Framework for Modeling Statewide Freight Movement Using Publicly Available Data

This paper presents a methodology to model statewide truck trips using publicly available data developed by federal and state organizations. This methodology is applied for the statewide freight planning of North Dakota. In the absence of ample research funding, states, counties and metropolitan planning organizations can resort to these freely available data. A state level commodity-by-industry input-output table customized from a freely available national input-output table is used to disaggregate trips to the traffic analysis zone level. These databases are available nationally; hence, the methodology discussed in this paper can be transferred to other states with relative ease