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Table of Contents

Freight and Land Use Travel Demand Evaluation: Final Report

Section 1: Introduction

The ways in which freight and goods movement occur are changing, as are the tools used by the private and public sectors to define and measure performance. Goods movement is recognized as a principal driver of economic prosperity, but in an increasingly information-based economy, the traditional definition of what constitutes freight is changing. Advancements in data collection and analysis have vastly expanded analytic capabilities; often there is too much data, rather than not enough. This has resulted in an explosion of information, giving a greater array of robust, data-driven, analytic tools; a wider distribution of tools, and increased communication of analytic results to broader audiences (see Table 1).

Table 1: Current Context for Goods Movement and Land Use Planning
Current Planning Context
Information Explosion
no value
  • New Data
  • More Practitioners
  • Larger Audience
Goods Movement State of the Practice
no value
  • Telematics
  • Technology
  • Societal Trends
  • Economic/Freight Trends
  • Improved Freight Data
Land Use/Demographics
no value
  • "Ds" Relationship to Freight (Density, Diversity, Design)

Planning and designing the built environment is viewed increasingly as a means for enhancing transportation system efficiency through more effective multimodal use. The importance of a context-sensitive approach to integrating land use and transportation applies to the assessment of freight travel demand and the provision of transportation supply. Previous studies have addressed how the "Ds" of land use (e.g., density, diversity, and design) affect auto trip and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) generation. Far less information exists regarding truck trip generation.

In the last decades, goods movement practices have led to land use changes such as increased development of intermodal logistics hubs, larger regional distribution centers, and freight-oriented development around gateways such as airports, intermodal rail, and ports. Some communities are promoting economic development centers that cluster freight and logistics with other related industries and supportive businesses.

This report describes the findings of a project led by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to consider the current state of the practice for integrating goods movement and land use planning. This report—and its companion literature review—summarize the types of planning approaches and tools that are expected to help planners implement sound freight planning policies, plans, and projects. This report focuses on integrating land use and socioeconomic trends into transportation planning processes. Section 1 describes the project purpose and approach. Other sections and chapters describe the findings and proposed approaches for FHWA and partner agencies to implement more effective freight planning practices.

Project Purpose

The purpose of this Freight and Land Use Travel Demand Evaluation study was to identify and document best practices and tools for analyzing how land use, local economic development, and demographic factors drive freight movement, trip generation, and freight demand analysis. Research efforts include defining the need for improved freight and land use modeling techniques that are of the greatest value, and considering the most effective format for new freight data products.

This study serves as a resource for continuing efforts by FHWA and its partners in the community of practice to improve planning for goods movement, such as the forthcoming update to the Quick Response Freight Manual (QRFM).

Project Approach

The study authors acknowledge there is extensive research on personal travel with a more limited set of similar studies on goods movement. This project focused on a combination of research activities supplemented by various stakeholder outreach activities, including a virtual meeting with practitioners and expert working session. A summary of stakeholder outreach activities is presented below. Additional details on the project approach are included in Appendix A.

  • Outreach during the 2017 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting - This outreach solicited input and marketed the next event (i.e., Virtual Meeting #1).
  • Virtual Meeting #1 - Held as part of FHWA’s monthly freight webinar series, this meeting was an informational webinar supplemented with open discussion to validate the literature review findings and understand the challenges practitioners are facing that were not previously captured.
  • Expert Working Session - Presented a draft set of topic matrices to freight planning experts. This meeting focused on reviewing the research and refining the best practices and tools based upon their collective expertise.
  • Virtual Meeting #2 - Provided experts from the working session mentioned above an opportunity to review and comment on the draft final technical report and its findings.

Technical Report Organization

This document reflects the findings from all project activities. The subsequent sections include:

Key Findings - Includes important synthesized findings from the different activities that formed the development of the topic matrices.

Topic Matrices - Provides summaries of both practice-ready materials for inclusion into the QRFM update as well as key gaps in best practices and how those gaps might be filled.

Recommendations and Next Steps - Provides final thoughts and specific ideas for the QRFM update.

Appendices - Includes important supportive information.

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