DVRPC News - Special 2005

DVRPC NEWS: SPECIAL FREIGHT EDITION

The "value of freight" is the driving motivation behind DVRPC's freight planning program. Freight is a required planning area under federal transportation legislation, and DVRPC has sought to treat the movement of freight on par with the movement of people; that is, comprehensively, cooperatively, and continually.

In order to improve freight movement and promote economic development through transportation investments, DVRPC is fortunate to work with a highly supportive local freight community. Partners include manufacturers, trucking and air cargo interests, larger, Class 1 railroads and smaller, short line railroads, the ports, economic development agencies, and the Traffic Club of Philadelphia. These partners form the basis for DVRPC's freight advisory committee, the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force.

DVRPC's member governments, including the New Jersey and Pennsylvania departments of transportation, federal agencies, and city and county governments, have consistently recognized the importance of freight. This year alone, the DVRPC Board named Representative William Keller as the Pennsylvania Elected Official of the Year for his efforts on behalf of the local port, a freight and aviation theme was selected for the 2004 DVRPC Board Retreat, and the Work Program Committee continued to allot funding for DVRPC's freight planning activities.

The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight DVRPC's freight planning activities and to raise awareness about the importance of freight in the region. For more information, please contact Ted Dahlburg, DVRPC's Manager of Freight Planning, at 215-238-2844.

DVRPC LEADS FREIGHT INITIATIVES

The movement of freight is integral to the quality of life in the nine county, Greater Philadelphia-Camden-Trenton region. Over the next two years, DVRPC will lead two important studies which directly address freight movement.

One of these initiatives is The Delaware Valley Freight Corridors Study. The purpose of the study is to delineate a north-south and an east-west freight corridor across the region (comprised of highway, railroad, port, air, warehousing, and other facilities) and to gauge opportunities to improve freight flows by all modes in the corridors. Fortifying these primary freight corridors may have an important additional benefit of protecting local communities from undue impacts from freight operations.

"The movement of freight is integral to the quality of life in the nine-county region…DVRPC will lead two important studies which directly address freight movement."

The second DVRPC study is the Rail Capacity Improvements Study. This study builds on the Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Study (MAROPS) which lays out a capital improvement program to improve the intercity freight and passenger railroad network from New Jersey and Pennsylvania to Virginia. In performing the study, DVRPC will work closely with CSX Transportation, the Norfolk Southern Corporation, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Amtrak to examine 12 MAROPS projects which are proposed within the Delaware Valley.

Both studies were conceived of and supported by DVRPC's freight advisory committee: the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force. DVRPC staff will perform the technical work, which is funded through the DVRPC Work Program.

SAFETY FIRST!

The Delaware Valley's freight community has taken a proactive role in promoting safety and security. Last spring, local truck drivers offered the general public tips on driving near trucks and avoiding their blind spots. This safety event received coverage from four local television stations and is part of the Share the Road campaign promoted by the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Trucking Associations, AAA Mid-Atlantic, the Federal Highway Administration, local law enforcement agencies, and others. A complementary program, Operation Lifesaver, educates children and motorists about highway-railroad grade crossings and railroad trespassing.

ABOVE: NBC 10 News interviews Tony Gemma, of Roadway Express, regarding saftey tips while driving near trucks.

Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force

Since 1992 and the advent of intermodalism in federal policy, the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force has served as DVRPC's official freight advisory committee. The committee provides perspectives on transportation plans and programs and assures that "freight votes" in the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) process. Membership is voluntary and open to all members of the freight community. The quarterly Task Force meetings are typically held at 10 a.m. in the DVRPC conference room.

The Task Force is chaired by:

• Sharon A. Daboin, Deputy Secretary,
  Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
• John J. Coscia, Executive Director,
  Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission

For 2005, the proposed meeting dates of the Task
Force are:

• January 20
• July 20
• April 15
• October 21

SHOWCASING THE REGION'S FREIGHT NETWORK

Two conferences in 2004 afforded opportunities to show others what many in the region already know: that the Delaware Valley is a global freight gateway. Tours of local freight facilities were organized for attendees of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Council of Logistics Management (CLM) national conferences held in Philadelphia.

"Two conferences in 2004 afforded opportunities to show others what many in the region already know: that the Delaware Valley is a global freight gateway."

The conference tours were organized by members of the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force's Shippers Subcommittee, chaired by Edward King of Sunoco, Inc. The tours included on-site visits to local port, rail, air cargo, refinery, and warehouse facilities. The AASHTO tour attracted over 40 state transportation officials from across the country, while the CLM tour drew a delegation of visiting transportation professionals from South Africa.

In 2005, there will be additional opportunities to host visitors and introduce them to the Delaware Valley freight community. In January, DVRPC's sister agency, the Atlanta Regional Commission, will visit for a freight planning peer-to-peer exchange and, in the fall, the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) will conduct a national freight and land use summit with the assistance of the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force.

FREIGHT AS A GOOD NEIGHBOR

The freight community has a long legacy of making positive contributions to the Delaware Valley. This can be measured in terms of jobs, local taxes, and other benefits. DVRPC is working with freight operators to continue this tradition, and to mitigate adverse local impacts. These objectives are embodied in two DVRPC studies, the Delaware County Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing Study and Camden City Truck Route Optimization Study, and NCHRP Synthesis 320, Integrating Freight Facilities and Operations with Community Goals.

BOOSTING THE UNDERSTANDING OF TRUCK PATTERNS

To better guide transportation planning and funding, DVRPC is increasing its data collection efforts on the movement of trucks. The agency's travel monitoring unit is equipped with the latest technology in traffic counting devices, and gathers 2,500 counts annually. The counting devices will be deployed on area highways, and will furnish current, specific data about the movement of all types of trucks. The information paves the way for improving operating conditions on heavily-traveled truck routes. The effort is being coordinated with the freight advisory committee's Data Subcommittee, chaired by Rick Crawford of the Norfolk Southern Corporation.

FUNDING PROJECTS TO MOVE FREIGHT MORE EFFICIENTLY

As the federally designated MPO for the Delaware Valley, DVRPC annually programs over $1 billion in transportation improvements. Several projects expressly designed to facilitate freightmovement are found in DVRPC's Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Some notable examples are:

• Reconstruction of 2 miles of rail line (Philadelphia, MPMS# 68071).
• Installation of electrification equipment at a truck rest facility (Burlington County, DB# D0404).
• Construction of a new railroad transload/intermodal facility (Chester County, MPMS# 68026).

Each of these projects involves a local match contribution from a private sector partner. In certain cases, DVRPC staff is

"DVRPC annually programs over $1 billion in transportation improvements...several projects are expressly designed to facilitate freight movement."

providing project management oversight to assure timely project implementation. It should be noted that many other TIP projects will also benefit the freight community, such as improvements to the interstate highway system.

Inquiries about the process for funding projects should be directed to Ted Dahlburg. For smaller scale projects, freight carriers are referred to DVRPC's Freight Forward program which seeks to implement minor operational improvements.

IT'S NOT SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION!

Restocking supermarket shelves and meeting the consumer needs of the Delaware Valley's businesses and residents is a complex and intricate job. To shed light on the magnitude and quality of the Delaware Valley's freight transportation assets, below are highlighted ten fast facts about the region's freight transportation network and business community.

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE REGION'S FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION NETWORK:
1. 400 for-hire trucking companies with 20,000 trucks.
2. 3 Class I freight railroads, and 10 short lines.
3. 5th ranked U.S. port (tonnage).
4. 14th ranked North American airport (tonnage)-Philadelphia International Airport.
5. 11 intermodal facilities/freight villages (i.e., multi-faceted freight centers).
6. 1,300 linear miles of the National Highway System and 23 miles of NHS connectors.
7. Consumer market of more than 100 million people within a day's drive.
8. 460,000 transportation and manufacturing jobs.
9. 143 million tons of freight shipped to region (CFS, 1997).
10. 32 foreign government consulates (career and honorary).

Matching Capacity With Demand

As supply chains tighten and time-sensitive cargos increase (e.g, air freight and e-commerce deliveries), the reliability of shipments is more important to freight carriers and their customers than ever before. For the region to remain competitive in the global economy and for freight and passenger operations to co-exist, there must be sufficient capacity to meet projected demands for freight transportation.

The Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force Planning Subcommittee, chaired by Kelvin MacKavanagh of MacKavanagh Railroad Consulting, is identifying needed capacity increases in concert with the development of DVRPC's 2030 long range plan. The underlying philosophy is to maximize each of the individual modes and to improve their inter-connectivity. Some of the capacity increases under consideration are: additional lanes for major highways, additional railroad tracks and raised clearances, and expansions of port facilities.

REQUEST CORNER

A number of resources about freight operations are available upon request. Contact Ted Dahlburg at 215-238-2844 or at tdahlburg@dvrpc.org regarding the following:

• EXPERT SPEAKERS
• DATA TRENDS
• FUNDING PROGRAMS
• MAPS AND AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS
• FACILITY TOURS
• TECHNICAL REPORTS

For freight photos, a glossary of terms, an intermodal primer and other materials, consult the DVRPC website at: http://www.dvrpc.org/transportation/multimodal/freight.htm

BUDDING PARTNERSHIPS

Since the movement of freight is inherently multijurisdictional, DVRPC actively supports planning initiatives with adjacent regions and states. One example is a study DVRPC is performing to better link freight operations with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This effort is being closely coordinated with the I-95 Corridor Coalition, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and the South Jersey Port Corporation, trucking and drayage companies, the Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority near Chambersburg, PA, and others.

"Since the movement of freight is inherently multijurisdictional, DVRPC actively supports planning initiatives with adjacent regions."

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In addition to thanking DVRPC's local freight
partners, grateful acknowledgments are extended
to the following agencies for their ongoing
support of DVRPC's freight planning program:

• BALTIMORE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL
• CHICAGO AREA TRANSPORTATION STUDY
• DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
• NORTH JERSEY TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AUTHORITY
• OREGON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
• TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD INTERMODAL FREIGHT TRANSPORT COMMITTEE
• U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION