Alameda County Transportation Commission
(Alameda CTC) - GoPort Freight Intelligence Transportation System
9. QUANTIFIABLE SAFETY, MOBILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Building on the benefit-cost assessment outlined in Section 8, Table 7 presents the expected benefits for the areas of mobility, safety, and environment.
| ATCMTD Benefit |
Anticipated Benefits |
|---|---|
| Mobility | The GoPort Freight ITS App and ITS improvements proposed would drive overall goods movement efficiencies for the private sector through shorter turn times, improved travel times to distribution centers and reduced incident-related delay, achieving annual benefits of 364,000 hours in travel time savings and approximately 245,000 gallons in fuel savings based on 2020 traffic forecasts. 2035 traffic forecasts show 412,000 hours in travel time savings, with 265,000 gallons in fuel savings. |
| Safety | By reducing congestion and increasing reliability, the GoPort Freight ITS App will enhance safety by lowering the number of primary and secondary incidents by smoothing traffic flow and reducing queue lengths. ITS improvements will result in an estimated savings of $1,244,000 annually from reduced crashes based on 2020 traffic forecasts and $1,347,000 based on 2035 traffic forecasts. Furthermore, these ITS safety improvements will augment the safety improvements that are expected from the broader GoPort Program 7th Street Grade Separation infrastructure improvements. |
| Environment | The GoPort Freight ITS App and proposed ITS improvements will reduce CO2 emissions by 21.7% based on 2020 traffic forecasts and 22.7% based on 2035 traffic forecasts, equating to $7.1 to $8.0 million saved annually. |
It is important to note that the expected environmental benefit of a 21.7-22.7 percent of emission reductions also will directly benefit the Quality of Life of nearby disadvantaged neighborhoods in Oakland. High levels of truck particulate emissions near neighborhoods, schools, and public facilities is a major issue in parts of the East Bay. For example, the community of West Oakland near the Port, experiences higher than normal asthma rates according to the East and West Oakland Health Data Existing Cumulative Health Impacts study.3
Also, there are Economic Development benefits that would occur with a full deployment of the GoPort Freight ITS App in the region. Significant economic returns to the region results from quicker turn times at terminals, improved travel times to distribution centers, and associated cost savings to drivers and operators associated with those direct benefits. By optimizing efficiencies in Port operations, there is a potential to increase the number of turns per day for trucks coming from the Central Valley or local areas, ultimately making the Port more competitive on the global market. Additional annual revenue gained from more turns is estimated to amount to $1.97 million based on 2020 traffic forecasts and $2.13 million based on 2035 traffic forecasts. In an industry where cutting even pennies off of delivery costs can result in high-volume returns on a quarterly scale, the GoPort Freight ITS App and ITS improvements have the potential to make a significant impact on the productivity and competitiveness of the local drayage community and associated industries, as well as the broader economic development of both the project area and the region as a whole. These factors will help the Port to compete more effectively for new customers, thus, increasing jobs and economic activity in the region. There also would be secondary public economic benefits from improved automobile mobility and travel time reliability resulting from more efficient utilization of the freeway and arterial network by trucks.
