Assessing Intermodal Transportation Planning At State Departments Of Transportation

This report identifies specific intermodal performance measures developed by 15 State departments of transportation. The performance measures are classified by goals and analyzed by frequency of use. The report discusses the role of performance measures in the transportation planning process and their relationship to intermodal management systems. The report also summarizes the major research reports related to the topic of performance measures.

This document identifies intermodal technical assistance activities originating within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) which should be of use to metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and State and local planners in fulfilling their responsibilities under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA). The areas of intermodal technical assistance activity are: air quality analysis; citizen/industry participation; congestion management; economic analysis; environmental and social impact analysis; geographic information systems; intermodal facilities planning; intermodal freight transportation; intermodal systems -- planning and management; metropolitan and statewide planning activities; resource centers; transportation statistics; travel demand forecasting; and travel demand management.

Directory of officials concerned with transportation planning at federal, state and local levels of government.

This synthesis report will be of interest to department of transportation ( DOT) administrators, planning supervisors, managers, and staffs, as well as to planning consultants that work with them. It provides information for practitioners interested in the results of attempts to apply multimodal considerations at the statewide level and identifies key research findings. It covers post-ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991) processes and projects and both passenger and freight activities. The report examines the application of three multimodal aspects: alternatives, modal mix, and integration into three statewide planning functions, which include state planning, corridor studies, and financing, budgeting, and programming. The emphasis is on implementation. This report of the Transportation Research Board documents processes and research currently under development, using three approaches: a literature review, results of a survey of state DOTs, and five case studies. It cites the following states with exemplary practices in multimodal/intermodal transportation based on a 1998 report by the policy research project at the University of Texas on Multimodal/ Intermodal Transportation: Florida, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

This synthesis describes the process by which state departments of transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) integrate freight planning into the surface transportation planning process. It will be of interest to state and MPO planners, port planners; traffic engineers; and to the trucking, rail, and shipping interests in both the public and private sectors. This report of the Transportation Research Board discusses the requirements for freight planning resulting from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) with particular emphasis on the development of an intermodal management system (IMS). In addition, that act narrowed the application of the congestion management system (CMS), which is also discussed in the synthesis. Since enactment of that legislation, another act, the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 was passed and makes the IMS optional rather than mandatory. This has not changed the philosophy or the intent of these planning applications, but it has changed the implementation aspects. Many agencies, however, are continuing with the IMS and CMS planning process. This report describes the methods used by selected agencies for forecasting freight flows, data collection practices, and the techniques for integrating freight planning into the established surface transportation planning processes at the state and regional levels.

The transportation sector is faced with new legislative mandates as reflected by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991. ISTEA, coupled with the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990, provides an impetus for change in transportation planning and project implementation. Statewide transportation planning is one of the mechanisms for change that ISTEA provides. Statewide transportation plans integrate planning for multiple transport modes to balance the mobility needs of the state with future revenue sources. To support this requirement, FHWA and FTA have issued statewide transportation planning rules. These rules identify twenty-three factors to be addressed in statewide plans. The case studies included in this report demonstrate examples of coordination.

The conference provided an opportunity for participants to (a) identify the types of data that are critical for planning and policy analysis; (b) identify data-collection requirements; (c) discuss the appropriate roles of and relationships among federal, state, and local agencies in the context of data collection and dissemination; and (d) review the impact of technological advances on data collection and dissemination. The invitation-only conference included participants from state departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and federal agencies providing broad representation of the transportation planning and policy communities. Significant effort was made to include a full spectrum of policy, management, and front-line analysts who have extensive experience in answering policy questions, supporting the planning process, and responding to federal reporting requirements.

The major objectives of this report are to develop a benefit-cost methodology for the evaluation of intermodal projects in statewide transportation planning and to examine an institutional framework conducive to cost sharing by different modal-specific programs in the State Departments of Transportation (DOTs). In order to find an appropriate institutional framework for intermodal planning, a compendium of current best practices adopted by various states is included. Evidently, better coordination and cooperation among modal-specific programs seems to be the preferred institutional framework for implementation of intermodal transportation projects. The major tenet of the study is that in the development of an intermodal project evaluation methodology for the freight sector, public agencies must necessarily incorporate the significant differences in social costs among modes. This study examines various theoretical and empirical issues involved in estimating social costs and benefits of intermodal projects combining various modal options.