California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has offered its Freight Academy (the “Academy”) since 2012. The weeklong, in-person training focuses on educating Caltrans staff on their roles in implementing the California Freight Mobility (CFMP). In response to the pandemic, the course has been modified into an online format and can accommodate a greater number of attendees. The Academy provides instruction on current freight industry trends and issues, thus equipping transportation professionals to respond to the rapidly changing industry and be better prepared to design the systems on which it moves.

The Academy is state-funded and free to attendees (transportation, lodging, and food is not provided). The Caltrans Office of Sustainable Freight Planning, as the primary customer of the Academy, determines attendees. In general, attendees consist of professionals from the public sector such as engineers and planner who are involved with freight planning. This includes professionals from within Caltrans, and external partners such as Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Regional Transportation Planning Agency (RTPAs), other State Agencies, and Port Authorities.

To develop the Academy, Caltrans contracts with the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center (PSR UTC), a partnership of academic institutions with deep expertise in freight and logistics operations and planning. These institutions work to refresh and update content each year to acknowledge updated trends and statewide activities. Recent topics have included: freight systems planning, identification of alternative freight routes, pavement design innovation, modal shift opportunities, system resiliency, measuring freight impacts, using and visualizing freight data, and freight planning at the Federal, State, and Regional levels. Invited guests from across the country, including academic experts and other State DOT freight staff with significant freight experience, provide supplemental instruction during the sessions. Participants collaborate on group projects at the end of each Academy to apply concepts they learned to a theoretical freight problem based on recent, real-world events.

The Academy trainings have helped Caltrans broaden its freight expertise and prepared staff to develop the next iterations of the CFMP. Underscoring the Academy’s initial success, Caltrans in 2021 awarded a separate contract to build a similar Academy specifically focusing on sustainable freight planning to reduce the impact of freight on the environment and to advance social equity.

Takeaways for other agencies:

• Design opportunities for statewide staff to learn about freight operations and planning concepts, focusing specifically on how to incorporate concepts into their daily work to implement the State Freight Plan.
• Providing constant, consistent training can be effective in building freight expertise across State agencies.
• Take advantage of your State’s academic resources to develop freight expertise within your organization.
• When agency capacity is limited, look for opportunities to leverage external partners’ knowledge and insights about freight trends and challenges.

Learn more: https://www.metrans.org/research/caltrans-freight-academy

The Philly Freight Finder is an open application providing freight transportation data to planning agencies, economic development agencies, state departments of transportation, decision-makers, and the general public. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), representing the nine county metropolitan planning organization for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region, developed the Philly Freight Finder. As an online mapping and data platform, the Philly Freight finder allows users to explore the regional multimodal freight network, freight-related employment patterns, trade patterns, and performance indicators through a series of tools and visualizations.

Collectively the tools and visualizations on the Philly Freight Finder help communicate the regional freight story. One tool in particular, The Freight Center Story provides a narrative to the regional freight story walking through the data, analysis, and resulting five freight center typologies in the Philadelphia region. The Freight Center Story is a communication tool providing a platform to further regional or local planning discussion around the priorities, opportunities, and challenges related to the freight centers around the region.

Takeaways for other agencies:

• Readily available datasets in a centralized location reduces duplication of assembling or producing data among different agencies, freeing up resources to focus on planning and decision-making activities.
• A public online data map and repository creates a greater awareness of freight facilities and supporting infrastructure within an area.

Explore the Philly Freight Finder: https://www.dvrpc.org/webmaps/phillyfreightfinder/

Learn more about the process to develop the tool: https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop16078/fhwahop16078.pdf

Maryland’s Department of Transportation (MDOT) developed an ArcGIS-based story map titled Maryland’s Freight Story describing the role of freight in the statewide or regional economy. The online tool or “story” is composed of eight sections starting with an overview of MDOT’s multimodal transportation system followed by an overview of transportation asset management, least reliable corridors for truck travel, safety initiatives and metrics, five year plan of freight projects, on-going projects to address truck parking, overview of the Maryland Freight Economy Dashboard, and a link to the current state freight plan. The sections feature infographics and interactive maps that communicate qualitative and quantitative information.

Maryland’s Freight Story concisely highlights the main topics of their state freight plan effectively communicating to the public and stakeholders the main issues and projects being undertaken as a result of the state freight planning effort.

Takeaways for other agencies:

• Reports and documents produced as a part of a formal planning process can be dense. To reach a wider audience consider creating alterative communication materials either during your state freight planning process or as a part of publishing the final plan.
• Framing data or results in terms of story can be an effective form of communicating and sharing information.

Learn more: https://maryland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=874cb859a5c346498d61a80157beda30