Active Projects
See also Current Projects for Freight
Data-Driven Simulation Tool for Dynamic Curb Planning and Management
Curbs are a critical layer at which people and goods join and leave the transportation network. Traditionally, curb spaces have been statically supplied, priced, and zoned for specific uses, such as commercial or passenger loading, or bus stops. However, in response to the growing demand for curb space, some cities are being more intentional about defining curb usage. This heightened demand and changing expectations for finite curb resources requires the implementation of real-time curb management capabilities to improve occupancy and throughput and decrease traffic disruption caused by cruising for parking and space maneuvering. The Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office has funded the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to develop a city-scale, dynamic curb use simulation tool and an open-source curb management platform. The simulation and management capabilities will include dynamically and concurrently controlling price, number of spaces, allowed parking duration, time of sale or reservation, and curb space use type. A microscale curb simulator will simulate the activities of individual vehicles transferring goods and people at the curb at the city block-face level. This project will examine new methods for dynamically reallocating curb space throughout the day and will provide this capability to city and commercial partners through a demonstration.
Principal Investigator: Ranjbari, A., UW
Sponsor: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Scheduled completion: September 2023
Mapping Food Rescue Logistics in the Puget Sound
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has estimated that over 94,500 tons of food from Seattle businesses end up in the compost or garbage. If just 5 percent was edible and could be rescued and redistributed, it could result in nearly 8 million additional meals for food insecure individuals. To support efforts to reduce food insecurity while simultaneously diverting less food to the waste stream, the UW Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center will build on the work of Seattle’s Food Rescue Innovation Lab to build a shared, data-driven understanding of the logistics of food rescue in the Puget Sound. This multi-year collaboration will build a community interested in rethinking food rescue logistics to improve access, food quality, and user experience while also reducing waste. Ultimately, the city could use the findings of this research to inform external investments in the form of funding for community partners to test new kinds of collaboration, vehicles, storage, and more, and internal investments into things such as fleet electrification, charging station locations, and cold storage aggregation to serve food rescue without increasing climate change impacts.
Principal Investigator: Goodchild, A.V., UW
Sponsor: Seattle Public Utilities
Scheduled completion: December 2022
Select Completed Projects
See also Research News for Freight projects.
The Final 50 Feet: Urban Goods Delivery Systems
The Final 50 Feet Research Program at the UW’s Urban Freight Lab focuses on the “final 50 feet” of the urban goods delivery system. This last segment of the supply chain includes searching for parking; loading/unloading at the curb, in an alley, or on a private loading bay; maneuvering intersections, curbs, curb ramps, sidewalks, and building elevators and security; and delivering goods to customers. In addition to being important to brand reputation and customer satisfaction, the final 50 feet segment is both the most expensive portion of the delivery process (estimated to comprise 25 to 50 percent of transportation supply chain costs) and the most time-consuming. The Final 50 Feet Research Program has used a systems engineering approach to investigate solutions to optimizing operations in the final 50 feet of the supply chain. Researchers have analyzed both the street network and the city’s vertical space (residential and commercial high-rise towers) as one integrated goods delivery system. The program has two goals: reduce carbon emissions (per package per hour) and increase curb efficiency for goods delivery (number of packages per meter of curb per hour). (2021)
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Principal Investigator: Goodchild, A.V., UW
Urban Freight Lab: Guzy, E.
Sponsors:
City of Seattle Department of Transportation
PacTrans
U.S. Department of Energy
View Final 50 Feet web page for projects and reports
NCHRP 08-98: Guide for Identifying, Classifying, Evaluating, and Mitigating Truck Freight Bottlenecks
Traditionally, truck congestion bottlenecks have been defined as physical locations on highways that routinely experience congestion. This definition has directed attention to urban areas where most congestion occurs in general and to peak period “commuter” congestion specifically. However, although much truck delay occurs under these situations, many other impediments to truck travel exist, including policy restrictions on truck travel, extreme event and disaster conditions, and regulatory constraints. Therefore, a broader definition of truck bottlenecks may be warranted: any condition that acts impedes efficient truck travel, leading to travel times in excess of what would normally occur. As a subcontractor to Cambridge Systematics, TRAC researchers assisted in a review of current practices and measures for identifying, classifying, evaluating, and mitigating truck freight bottlenecks. They also participated in work to develop a new classification system for truck freight bottleneck categories based on causal and contributing factors; methods for quantitatively measuring truck freight bottlenecks within each of the categories; a scalable methodology for systematically identifying truck freight bottlenecks; a scalable methodology for evaluating the impacts of truck freight bottlenecks on local, regional, and national network performance; and a range of options for solving or mitigating truck freight bottlenecks for each identified category. (2016)
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Principal Investigators: Hallenbeck, M.E., UW
Sponsors: NCHRP, Cambridge Systematics
NCHRP Research Report 854
FRATIS I-35 Texas Impact Assessment
This project evaluated the impacts of roadway performance information delivery efforts on freight operations in Texas. A freight advanced traveler information system (FRATIS) was deployed in the form of the I-35 Traveler Information during Construction (TIDC) system in Dallas, Texas, in association with major reconstruction work on I-35. The evaluation focused on the impacts of delivering the TIDC information to trucking companies. Both participating trucking companies reported receiving benefit from the construction delay information. (2018)
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Principal Investigators: Hallenbeck, M.E., UW; McCormack, E.M., UW
Sponsors: FHWA, Cambridge Systematics
Freight Commodity Flows
The goal of this project was to collect data to quantify and characterize the movement of commodities through specified freight corridors. Truck drivers were surveyed when trucks stopped during their trips. The investigators developed a survey and conducted it in specified corridors four times over the course of a year. They also developed a database that allowed them to analyze and characterize commodity flow for the specified corridors. Determining the commodity flow on corridors aids agencies in correctly prioritizing infrastructure investments and increases their ability to determine the quantitative impacts of congestion, regulation, and bottlenecks on a transportation system or supply chain. (2016)
Principal Investigator: Sage, J., WSU
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Knutson, R., WSDOT
Sponsor: WSDOT
WA-RD 853.1
Freight Demand Modeling and Data Improvement Stratetic Plan (SHRP 2 Local Freight Data)
Details of the behavior of food distribution supply chains in Washington state are poorly understood and limit WSDOT’s ability to adequately support and plan for food distribution transportation activities. Although the industry’s transportation, supply chain, and fleet characteristics are not well understood, the industry generates significant economic, environmental, and social impact. This project collected the data necessary to accurately model the behavioral responses of key state supply chains to different state policy scenarios aimed at reducing freight emissions and their impacts on the freight system in the state. It also examined the interplay between policy scenarios and market fores driving key supply chains’ involvement with the transition to natural gas fuels for freight systems. (2016)
Principal Investigator: Goodchild, A., UW
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Ivanov, B., WSDOT
Sponsor: WSDOT
WA-RD 850.1
NCHRP 08-98: Guide for Identifying Truck Freight Bottlenecks
Traditionally, truck congestion bottlenecks have been defined as physical locations on highways that routinely experience congestion. This definition has directed attention to urban areas where most congestion occurs in general and to peak period “commuter” congestion specifically. However, although much truck delay occurs under these situations, many other impediments to truck travel exist, including policy restrictions on truck travel, extreme event and disaster conditions, and regulatory constraints. Therefore, a broader definition of truck bottlenecks may be warranted: any condition that acts impedes efficient truck travel, leading to travel times in excess of what would normally occur. As a subcontractor to Cambridge Systematics, TRAC researchers assisted in a review of current practices and measures for identifying, classifying, evaluating, and mitigating truck freight bottlenecks. They also participated in work to develop a new classification system for truck freight bottleneck categories based on causal and contributing factors; methods for quantitatively measuring truck freight bottlenecks within each of the categories; a scalable methodology for systematically identifying truck freight bottlenecks; a scalable methodology for evaluating the impacts of truck freight bottlenecks on local, regional, and national network performance; and a range of options for solving or mitigating truck freight bottlenecks for each identified category.(2016)
Principal Investigators: Hallenbeck, M.E., Goodchild, A.V., UW
Technical Monitor: Jensen, M., Cambridge Systematics
Sponsors: NCHRP, Cambridge Systematics
Developing a System for Computing and Reporting MAP-21 and Other Freight Performance Measures
WSDOT must begin produce freight performance measures to meet its own needs as well as to respond to the upcoming MAP-21 federal performance reporting requirements. WSDOT needs the ability to measure freight performance on the Interstate system, to identify and quantify freight bottlenecks on the state highway network, and to measure freight movement performance on key freight economic corridors. This project designed and tested a system to produce freight performance reports for WSDOT. The project developrf the procedures for computing the performance measures that WSDOT requires. The research team worked with WSDOT staff to obtain the necessary data files to produce the performance measures, identify the decisions that WSDOT must make to compute the required measures, produce the software for WSDOT’s use, and produce an initial set of measures. (2015)
Principal Investigator: Hallenbeck, M.E., UW
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Ivanov, B., WSDOT
Sponsor: WSDOT
WA-RD 844.1
Prototype Development and Small-Scale Demonstration for Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS)—South Florida
This USDOT-funded project researched freight intelligent transportation system solutions in the South Florida region, a major freight gateway, to help alleviate congestion, pollution, and delays while promoting improved freight mobility. The purpose of the project was to develop a prototype Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) and then conduct a small-scale demonstration to assess the effectiveness and impacts of implementing a regional FRATIS. As a subcontractor to Cambridge Systematics, TRAC staff helped to develop emergency preparedness and response activities for the FRATIS, which will consist of a smart phone application designed to collect and disseminate information related to traffic conditions, road closures, fuel availability, supply locations, and more. (2014)
Principal Investigator: McCormack, E.D., UW
Technical Monitor: Jensen, M., Cambridge Systematics
Sponsors: FHWA, Cambridge Systematics
US 395 North Freight Origin-Destination Economic Study
In this project, WSU researchers worked with the WSDOT Eastern Region Planning Office and the new Northeast Washington regional transportation planning office to conduct a freight origin-destination study for US 395 from the Stevens/Spokane county line to the Canadian border. Shippers and haulers operating on US 395 were contacted and interviewed, and an intercept freight survey as and administered at pre-determined sites and times in coordination with the Washington State Patrol. A database structure was developed for the collected data. A GIS database was developed to include commodity flows/values, origins=destinations, and freight generators. The information on the destination of the products carried, their origin, and their volume and value is useful in prioritizing this corridor for future infrastructure investments. (2014)
Principal Investigator: Sage, J., WSU
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Kay, C., WSDOT
Sponsor: WSDOT
WA-RD 836.1
Developing a Performance Measurement Approach to Benefit/Cost Freight Project Prioritization
To prioritize public investments in freight systems and to ensure consideration of the contribution of freight to overall system performance, states and regions need a better method for analyzing the freight benefits associated with proposed highway and truck intermodal improvements. To address that need, this project developed a data-supported framework to prioritize public investments in freight systems in Washington and Oregon. The project integrated two ongoing WSDOT-funded efforts, one to create methods for calculating the value of truck and truck-intermodal infrastructure projects and one to collect truck probe data from commercial GPS devices to create a statewide Freight Performance Measures (FPM) program. This integration will provide a framework that allows public agencies in the Pacific Northwest to quantify freight investment benefits in specific areas, such as major freight corridors and across borders. (2013)
Principal Investigators: Casavant, K./Sage, J., WSU; Goodchild, A.V./McCormack, E.D., UW
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Ivanov, B., WSDOT
Sponsors: WSDOT, PacTrans
WA-RD 815.1
NCHRP Project 31—Guidebook for Sharing Freight Transportation Data
As a subcontractor to Cambridge Systematics, TRAC researchers assisted in publishing a guidebook designed to facilitate freight data sharing, particularly between public sector agencies and private transportation firms that generate or control freight data. The researchers documented case studies, interviewed individuals involved with successful data sharing efforts, compiled lists of barriers and motivators to sharing freight data, and helped develop a set of guidelines for use by the full range of public and private freight stakeholders. (2013)
Principal Investigator: McCormack, E.D. UW
Technical Monitor: Jensen, M., Cambridge Systematics>
Sponsors: National Cooperative Highway Research
Program, Cambridge Systematics
GPS Data from Trucks—Freight Performance Measures Program
This project was the third and final phase of the Freight Performance Measures Program (FPMP), whose development was directed by the Washington State Legislature. The FPMP collects and allows for analysis of global positioning systems (GPS) truck data from around the state. This phase of the project enabled maintenance, improvements, and updates to a roadway bottleneck identification and ranking process for state freight corridors. This tool will help WSDOT identify locations where highway construction projects may improve traffic flow for trucks. (2012)
Principal Investigator: McCormack, E.D., UW
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Ivanov, B., WSDOT
Sponsor: WSDOT
Improving Statewide Freight Routing Capabilities for Sub-National Commodity Flows
The National Cooperative Freight Research Program is working to increase the availability of freight flow data at the corridor and regional levels. To build upon this national effort, this research project worked in parallel with the national study by developing and testing truck routing rules and logic. This effort gathered information on how truck freight routing decisions are made by cataloguing how routing decisions vary by truck freight service type, commodity shipped, and industry sector served. It included an assessment of how route choices are affected by factors such as urban congestion, travel time and route reliability, highway grade/elevation and curvature characteristics, and business and product-specific supply chain characteristics. WSDOT will use the results to better manage resources for the highest possible return on investment, deliver cost-effective solutions to improve the performance of the freight transportation system, and be environmentally responsible. (2012)
Principal Investigators: Jessup, E.L., WSU; Goodchild, A.V., UW
Research Manager: Brodin, D., WSDOT
Technical Monitor: Ivanov, B., WSDOT
Sponsor: WSDOT, FHWA
WA-RD 792.1