With Washington’s ports closer to Asia than any other major American port and the shared international border with the U.S.’s largest trade partner, Canada, Washington is one of the five most trade dependent states in the nation. As a result, the value and volume of goods moving within the Washington state freight system are large and growing. Every hour of every day, $37 million of freight moves on Washington state roadways, and in 2011, $111.5 billion in exports passed through the state. The impact on the state’s economy is significant. For example, in 2010, Washington’s freight transportation network supported 1.46 million jobs in freight-dependent industries that produced $129 billion in regional domestic product.
The state’s freight policy goal is to develop and prioritize strategies to improve the freight transportation system that support and enhance trade and sustainable economic growth, safety, the environment, and goods delivery needs in Washington.
TRAC researchers are involved in numerous logistics and freight-related projects supporting state DOTs, ports, metropolitan planning organizations, and the federal government. These projects include
- modeling freight transport
- researching the interplay between economic and operational efficiency and the environment to support sustainability in freight transportation
- developing programs to measure the performance of freight systems
- evaluating the use of technology to improve freight mobility.
Contacts and Resources
University of Washington
Anne Goodchild 206.543.3747
Mark Hallenbeck 206.543.6261
Ed McCormack 206.543-3348
Urban Freight Lab
Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center
Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics online degree program
Goods Movement Collaborative, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Washington State University
Ken Casavant 509.335.1608
Jeremy Sage 509.335.5536
Freight Policy Transportation Institute