Measures of Freight Network Resiliency: A Pacific Northwest Expanded Data Capture and Analysis of Truck Drivers and Support Services under Pandemic Distress
PI: Sal Hernandez (OSU), sal.hernandez@oregonstate.edu, ORCID: 0000-0001-8160-5949
AMOUNT & MATCH: $10,000 from PacTrans; $10,000 Match
PERFORMANCE PERIOD: 6/1/2020 – 5/31/2021
STATUS: Completed
CATEGORIES: COVID-19, Freight
FINAL PROJECT REPORT: 
PROJECT DATA: no new data was generated for this project
DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this COVID-19 proposal is to coordinate data collection efforts with freight and fleet telematics companies who are not currently collecting such data and whom we have current relationships with (EROAD, Geotab) . Proposed data includes the collection of freight/fleet movement and position information gathered by on-board GPS and phone device. This data can be mined for travel patterns that depict rest and pick-up/drop-off occurrence, speed, and other risky driving maneuvers.
Movement data gathered through this COVID-19 project would advance several relevant COVID-19 related research questions: (i) How does the current lack of available and safe truck parking affect the ability of drivers and fleet operators to route and deliver supplies for pandemic response? (ii) What is the tradeoff between relaxed HOS regulations to provide faster delivery of critical supplies and potential increases in unsafe driving conditions? (iii) How are current supply chain networks shifting operations to meet increased demand for pandemic response and recovery supplies? (iv) In what ways can we incorporate driver and driver support systems into disaster planning and modeling? Overall, the data collected in this project will provide a platform to study the multi-faceted role of drivers, fleet operators, truck stop operators, and state and federal transport agencies within pandemic response and recovery practices.
