United States-European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries
Overview of Second Annual Urban Freight Roundtable at 2017 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

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Research

United States

Using Commodity Flow Survey Microdata and Other Establishment Data to Estimate the Generation of Freight, Freight Trips, and Service Trips

The objective of the research was to estimate freight generation (FG) models using Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) microdata as a function of establishment characteristics (e.g., establishment size, economic activity performed). The research team estimated models at different levels of geography by industry segment to capture the role of geography and economic activity in freight generation patterns.

This project was undertaken by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in partnership with the State University of New York at Albany. The project was funded by the National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).

This project, numbered by TRB as NCFRP Project 25(01), is an extension of NCFRP Project 25 (Freight Generation and Land Use), in which the research team utilized CFS microdata and other establishment data to estimate the generation of freight, and freight and service trips. For the follow-on project, the research team conducted an additional freight generation survey and incorporated new models into the electronic database of freight trip generation models that was created for the NCFRP 25 project.

Schematic of connections between freight and land use.
Source: José Holguín-Veras.

Project Type

Research

Period of Performance

October 2012 - December 2015

Project Site(s)

End products are broadly applicable.

Websites

NCFRP Research Report 37

NCFRP Report 19

Contact

José Holguín-Veras, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
William H. Hart Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(518) 276-6221
JHV@rpi.edu

Challenges Addressed

• Freight-land use interaction.
• Freight data collection.
• Last-mile deliveries.
• Freight parking.
• Establishment of freight trip production.

Key Accomplishments

A guidebook (labeled as NCFRP Research Report 37) was produced that provides improved freight trip generation rates (or equivalent metrics) for different land-use characteristics related to freight facilities and commercial operations. These improved rates can be used to better inform State and local decisionmaking.

Stakeholder Involvement

Numerous meetings will be held with various stakeholders from the region's public and private sectors to gather feedback on freight movement, operations, and transportation infrastructure.