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County Freight Scans

Background and Purpose

During Fiscal Year 2010 (July, 2009-June, 2010), the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's (DVRPC) Freight Unit undertook a new initiative entitled, County Freight Scans. The scans were conducted in all of the DVRPC counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware (and the City of Chester), Montgomery, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and Burlington, Camden (and the City of Camden), Gloucester, and Mercer (and the City of Trenton) in New Jersey.

The primary purpose of the County Freight Scans was to equip the staffs of county planning agencies with increased understanding of freight trends and with greater capacity to address freight issues. The movement of freight is an ever-growing feature of the local and county landscape that directly ties into economic development, environmental, land use, and transportation concerns.

Format and Activities

Each of the DVRPC counties was the focus of investigation for a one-month time period. DVRPC staff meet with County planning staff members at the beginning of the month for an orientation and discussion about the desired outcomes of the program, and then again at the end of the month for a wrap-up and presentation of findings. Some of the activities undertaken by DVRPC staff within each county were:

  • reviewed the freight element of the county comprehensive plan
  • conducted meetings with key stakeholders
  • prepared county-specific freight data
  • organized field views of representative freight facilities
  • documented signature supply chain and community service case studies

DVRPC staff also sought to assemble mapping information regarding major transportation facilities, freight generators, and special areas (e.g., Foreign Trade Zones) within each county. This information was compiled in a GIS environment that can be readily accessed by county planning agency staff.

The primary resource for this effort was DVRPC's freight advisory committee, the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force. Members of this committee, who have consistently supported DVRPC's efforts to better integrate freight considerations into the planning process, are spread throughout the region and various industries and were asked to participate in certain aspects of the scans.

Outcomes and Contacts

At the conclusion of the program, staff prepared a freight-related brochure as part of the DVRPC Municipal Implementation Tool series. The brochure is specially targeted to the region's 353 municipalities and provides useful guidance for local governments attempting to balance freight operations with community goals, plans, and projects.

The scans also served as a basis for the preparation of a set of county-specific and regional issues that will be used to suggest new transportation studies, recommend system improvements, refine the regional vision for growth and development, and prepare for the next long-range plan.

The DVRPC County Freight Scans were completed under the aegis of the Delaware Valley Freight Planning project (#10-41-060). For more information about the technical work, contact:

Ted Dahlburg, Freight Planning Manager:
215.238.2844; tdahlburg@dvrpc.org

Walker Allen, Freight Planning Analyst:
215.238.2947; wallen@dvrpc.org

Brochures

Brochures regarding freight are now available for each county: