The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) initiated two projects (Capacity Projects C15 and C20) designed to improve the nation’s ability to plan for increased freight-related traffic and to begin to address the growing issue of freight bottlenecks. Capacity Project C20, which was the first one, assessed the state of the practice of freight demand modelling and freight data as they relate to highway capacity planning and programming. This assessment concludes that the state of freight demand modelling has been relatively stable during the past several decades, unlike demand modelling for passenger travel, which is advancing toward activity-based modelling. The state of the practice in freight data has also been relatively stable; however, promising developments based on new information technologies may greatly improve transportation planners’ access to freight data. Examples include global positioning system data from trucks and (potentially) private supply chain data that could be aggregated for public sector planning purposes. Accelerated innovation is needed so that freight demand modelling and freight data can better serve the needs of public sector decision making regarding highway capacity investments. The C20 research report documents the process used to develop a strategic plan aimed at improving the state of the practice in freight demand modelling and freight data. The strategic plan, published as a separate web document, suggests sample research initiatives that could begin to improve the practice of freight demand modelling and freight data. These initiatives are grouped into themes such as knowledge gaps, modelling, data, and data visualization. Knowledge gaps are a key issue because the perspectives and business planning time frames of the private and public sectors are divergent with respect to freight. The private sector focuses on optimising short-term supply chains and operations, but the public sector focuses on investments that may take a decade or more to put in place. Bridging this knowledge gap is essential to making progress in freight capacity planning. Visualization technologies are promising for helping freight decision makers and stakeholders understand each other’s perspectives. Since the responsibility for gathering freight data and conducting freight demand modelling is spread among a large number of agencies and organizations, the C20 Strategic Plan suggests a potential model for organizing cooperation to encourage innovation and advancement. One model for advancing the state of the practice in freight demand modelling and freight data is to hold innovation symposia. A pilot effort initiated in September 2010 as part of the SHRP 2 C20 research project, the Innovations in Freight Demand Modelling and Data Symposium, is documented in this report. An online compendium of the papers that were presented is included. (Author/publisher) SHRP 2 Capacity Project C20, which produced Report S2-C20-RR-1, also produced the following items: • A Freight Demand Modeling and Data Improvement Strategic Plan (http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/167629.aspx), which outlines seven strategic objectives that are designed to serve as the basis for future innovation in freight travel demand forecasting and data, and to guide both near- and long-term implementation: • A speaker's kit (http://www.trb.org/StrategicHighwayResearchProgram2SHRP2/Pages/C20_Spea…), which is intended to be a "starter" set of materials for use in presenting the freight modeling and data improvement strategic plan to a group of interested professionals; and • A 2010 Innovations in Freight Demand Modeling and Data Symposium (http://www.trb.org/StrategicHighwayResearchProgram2SHRP2/Pages/shrp2_fr…).
Samenvatting