UAH CMER » Presentation

Development of a Freight Database for Use in Allocating Freight Traffic to Sub-State Traffic Zones

lauren — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:49:08 +0000

The use of national freight data at the local level is challenging due to the high level of aggregation and because freight data is proprietary. Many national freight databases aggregate information to the individual states or major communities. Most methods of utilizing freight data depend on applying proxy factors to allocate the freight to the system. The planning factors used in freight system analysis must be capable of describing the freight generation and attraction characteristics of the region. The use of employment as a planning factor has come under scrutiny mainly due to the inability of the factor to accurately estimate the effect of productivity improvements made by a company to increase production without increasing employment. This research has shown that local economic data from many different sources can successfully be used to allocate freight volume into smaller zones from the future freight traffic volumes provided by highly aggregated national databases. The output of this effort is used as input to the modeling of freight, and the integration of that freight into existing transportation planning and modeling activities at the state and local level. This has been accomplished in Alabama at the statewide and metropolitan planning organization level, resulting in validated transportation models that integrate freight into the planning activity. The methodology described in this paper can easily be replicated by other states and metropolitan planning organizations.

Development of a Freight Database for Use in Allocating Freight Traffic to Sub-State Traffic Zones

Using a Federal Database and Local Industry Sector Knowledge to Develop Future Freight Forecasts

lauren — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:54:29 +0000

In smaller urban areas, freight transportation is often not explicitly modeled, but is included implicitly as a percentage of non-home-based trips, which has nothing to do with the actual behavior of freight. This incorporation has the potential to develop future traffic forecasts that are unreasonable and potentially will lead to poor roadway infrastructure investment decisions. The federal freight flow data contained in the Freight Analysis Framework Version 2.2 (FAF2) Database has the potential to improve the forecast year accuracy, however, use of the database itself is often suspect and the large aggregation level of the database usually makes it impractical. This paper examines a process to systematically improve the forecasted volumes from the FAF2 using local industry sector knowledge to a potential level that is acceptable for urban transportation modeling. A case study is shown using the state of Alabama to demonstrate the process of adjusting the FAF2 data to account for industries located in the community. The paper concludes that with appropriate adjustment and application, the FAF2 database can be used for in forecasting future travel demand in a smaller urban area.

USING A FEDERAL DATABASE AND LOCAL INDUSTRY SECTOR KNOWLEDGE TO DEVELOP FUTURE FREIGHT FORECASTS

Best Practices from DoD

cmer_admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:48:29 +0000

DLA is streamlining its entire logistics pipeline.

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Best Practices DoD

The Development of an Integrated Freight Planning Framework

lauren — Sat, 01 May 2010 17:05:22 +0000

Using national freight data at the local level is challenging due to the high level of aggregation, its proprietary nature and the need to apply proxy factors to allocate freight for system planning. Planning factors used in freight system analysis must be capable of describing the freight generation and attraction characteristics of the region. Employment as a planning factor has come under scrutiny due to the inability of this factor to accurately estimate the effect of productivity improvements made by a company to increase production without increasing employment. Economic data from different sources can be used to allocate freight volume into smaller zones from freight traffic volumes provided by national databases and this output can be used to model freight and integrate freight into existing transportation planning activities at the state and local level.

The Development of an Integrated Freight Planning Framework

An Approach to Collecting Local Freight Information

lauren — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:02:00 +0000

The use of local freight data in transportation planning is essential to ensure accuracy in the travel demand modeling process. However, unlike passenger transportation, where extensive research work has been performed into the collection and use of household travel data, limited research work has been performed to collect and use local freight travel data. This paper examines a structure developed to collect and summarize local freight data in an urban area to be used in the transportation planning process within a Metropolitan Planning Organization. The paper concludes that the appropriate collection and analysis of freight data can be performed and the output can be used to support transportation planning activities.

Approach to Collecting Local Freight Information

Developing Freight Analysis Zones at a State Level: A Cluster Analysis Approach

lauren — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:28:52 +0000

The ability to plan and forecast freight demand to support transportation infrastructure investment decisions is limited by the lack of available data at a level of detail that is meaningful to the transportation planner. This paper develops an initial methodology for developing Freight Analysis Zones (FAZs) at a sub-state level to facilitate use of the data from the Freight Analysis Framework 2 (FAF2) database and industry surveys. The FAF2 database is based upon the Commodity Flow Survey and is a comprehensive public freight knowledgebase. However, with 114 zones nationwide (most states have one or two zones), the ability of a state or Metropolitan Planning Organization transportation planner to use the data without significant disaggregation is limited. Currently, there is no consensus regarding the means to disaggregate the original FAF2 data. This paper addresses this problem by developing a systematic method for partitioning a state into meaningful zones that support effective freight transportation planning and analysis. The paper tests the application of FAZs to disaggregate freight data for use in a statewide by model through a case study in Alabama. The paper concludes that FAZs can be effectively used without degrading the quality of the forecasts.

Developing Freight Analysis Zones at a State Level TRB

Modular Approach for Rapidly Developing Simulation Models for Analyzing and Evaluating Port Operations

lauren — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:00:05 +0000

This paper presents a modular approach for rapidly developing simulation models that can analyze and evaluate existing port operations, changes and expansions. Simulation is an inexpensive insurance against costly mistakes involving capital expenditures, but many managers still perceive simulation to be a costly and time consuming option. The underlying purpose of this research has been the development of rapid reaction modular simulation that provides quick answers and is flexible enough to be used in multiple situations. Applications of this approach have been completed at the Alabama State Docks and the Huntsville International Intermodal Center where it has shown to be possible to rapidly construct the model in segments, one submodel at a time. Consequently, each submodel can be debugged and verified separately, thus reducing the overall development time. Included in this paper are a description of the modular modeling framework, descriptions of the five model application implementations and conclusions.

Modular Approach for Rapidly Developing Simulation Models for Analyzing and Evaluating Port Operations

Using FAF2 Port Data to Model Freight in a Medium Sized Port City

lauren — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:46:33 +0000

The ability to accurately incorporate freight moving to and from a port into an urban model is difficult in both small and large cities. To address this issue, this paper presents an application in which the Freight Analysis Framework Version 2.2 (FAF2) Port Data was incorporated into a traditional urban transportation planning model for a small/medium sized community (Mobile, AL). The paper discusses the application of the data integration steps and the issues encountered during the application. The paper concludes that port data can be incorporated into the traditional planning process, but special consideration must be made to understand the local shipping network.

Using FAF2 Port Data to Model Freight in a Medium Sized Port City.docx

Issues and Approaches to the Utilization of Highly Aggregated Databases in Freight Planning and Modeling

lauren — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:44:24 +0000

As one of the four original pilot studies into disaggregation of the Freight Analysis Framework Version 2 program funded by the Federal Highway Administration, the research team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) has experienced many of the issues and problems associated with the use of such a highly aggregated database. The UAHuntsville team has also experienced the frustration with attempting to analyze, plan and model freight movement without the actual data necessary for accurate results. Rather than stopping, or being satisfied with the current state of freight data and analysis, the UAHuntsville team developed approaches, processes and methodologies to utilize available data, and develop additional data sources to provide the freight information needed to model transportation systems at the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) level and at the statewide level. This paper describes the issues encountered throughout this process and the approaches that have proved beneficial and have improved the modeling performed at both levels.

Issues and Approaches to the Utilization of Highly Aggregated Databases in Freight Planning and Modeling – Harris (2).doc

Developing Validated Freight Transportation Models Utilizing Highly Aggregated Data

lauren — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:42:20 +0000

It is commonly accepted in the transportation planning community that local data is the only legitimate data that can be used to forecast travel. Therefore, large, highly aggregated data sets are often discredited and deemed an inappropriate data source without extensive consideration. Additionally, since freight flow databases are generally large and highly aggregated, freight transportation traditionally has not been explicitly included in the process; rather, freight is implicitly included through the application of a factor related to passenger travel. This paper presents the results obtained modeling freight transportation in an urban area using a highly aggregated, publicly available, freight flow database, known to have limitations. The paper discusses approaches to maximize the use of the aggregated freight flow data at various scales, disaggregation factors included in the process, and methods to overcome known limitations as part of the methodology to format the data for entry into a traditional travel model. The paper applies statistical validation techniques proving the freight volumes obtained from the aggregated data within a traditional transportation model do, in fact, provide reasonable matches to the existing counts, demonstrating that rejection of the data is not warranted. The paper concludes that a highly aggregated freight data set can be used in transportation planning activities, achieving acceptable levels of accuracy. Use of the highly aggregated data set, considering the result of a validated and acceptable model, is a preferable outcome to the options of ignoring freight in the modeling process or accepting freight is simply a portion of passenger travel.

Developing Validated Freight Transportation Models Utilizing Highly Aggregated Data – Harris.doc