Freight Performance Measure Primer

APPENDIX E. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) – Not-for-profit research organization that is a part of the American Trucking Associations Federation aimed at conducting transportation research with an emphasis on the trucking industry's essential role in a safe, efficient, and viable transportation system.

Automobile – a travel mode that includes all motor vehicle traffic using a roadway except transit buses (includes such vehicles as trucks, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and tour buses).

Average Annual Daily Truck Traffic (AADTT) – The total volume of truck traffic on a highway segment for one year, divided by the number of days in the year.

Bottleneck – A section of a highway network that experiences operational problems such as oversaturated congestion. Bottlenecks may result from factors such as reduced roadway width or steep freeway grades that can slow trucks.

Capacity – The maximum number of vehicles that can reasonably be expected to traverse a point or a uniform section of roadway during a given time period under prevailing conditions.

Commodity – An item that is traded in commerce. The term usually implies an undifferentiated product competing primarily on price and availability.

Container – A large, standard sized metal box into which cargo is packed for shipment.

Corridor – (1) A set of essentially interrelated, parallel transportation facilities for moving people and goods between two points; (2) a geographic area used for the movement of people and goods.

Delay – Additional travel time beyond some norm experienced by a traveler.

Demand – The number of persons or vehicles desiring to use a mode or facility.

Facility – A length of roadway composed of points and segments.

Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act – Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act signed into law on December 4, 2015. The FAST Act is a five-year Federal authorization for Federal fiscal years 2016 through 2020 and authorizes $305 billion for freight projects.

Fluidity – Tracking a commodity across multiple modes or regions; measuring end-to-end travel times of key commodities.

Freightt – Any commodity being transported.

Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) – Integrates data from a variety of sources to create a comprehensive picture of freight movement among States and major metropolitan areas by all modes of transportation.

Freight Coalition – A regional organization that cooperates in the planning, operation, preservation, and improvement of freight transportation infrastructure and networks.

Freight Performance Measures – Freight-specific performance measures help to identify needed transportation improvements and monitor their effectiveness. They also serve as indicators of economic health and traffic congestion.

Governing data – More freight data are available each year. Recently, truck Global Positioning System (GPS) data have become available to planners. While the additional data create opportunities, they also create new challenges to managing and processing them. Additionally, the private sector controls a lot of valuable data. Establishing relationships and contractual arrangements for sharing these data are also obstacles.

Heavy congestion – A situation in which traffic demand is sufficient to cause the level of service to be below a specified Level of Service standard.

Heavy vehicle – A vehicle with more than four wheels touching the pavement during normal operation.

Highway – A general term for denoting a public way for purposes of vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian travel, including the right-of-way.

Highway modes – Automobile, bicycle, bus, pedestrian.

Indicator – A mobility performance measure which primarily shows a trend over time and is not used to achieve a goal or objective nor is it used in a decision-making process.

Level of Service (LOS) – A qualitative assessment of a road's operating conditions. For local government comprehensive planning purposes, LOS is an indicator of the extent or degree of service provided by, or proposed to be provided by, a facility based on the operational characteristics of the facility. LOS indicates the capacity per unit of demand for each public facility.

Logistics – All activities involved in the management of product movement; delivering the right product from the right origin to the right destination, with the right quality and quantity, at the right schedule and price.

Merging data – It is often necessary to combine data from different sources. This can be difficult because different agencies or local governments may use different definitions, data may have been collected at different times of the year, and the technology for collection may differ. For example, the different technology used to count vehicles may use different classification schemes for trucks.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) – A federally funded and mandated organization, composed of representatives from local government and transportation authorities, charged with establishing transportation policy and decision-making for a metropolitan area.

Mobility – The movement of people and goods.

Mobility performance measure – (1) A metric that quantitatively tells us something about mobility; (2) a mobility metric directly tied to achieving a goal or objective or used in a decision-making process.

Mode – A means of moving people or goods.

Motor carrier – A firm engaged in providing commercial motor freight or long-distance trucking.

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act – Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act is the federally authorized surface transportation act signed into law on July 6, 2012. MAP-21 created a streamlined, performance-based, and multi-modal program to meet the many challenges facing the U.S. transportation system.

Multi-modal – More than one travel mode potentially including the four highway modes (auto, bicycle, bus, pedestrian), aviation, rail, seaports, and transit.

Non-recurring events – As it pertains to traffic, a delay caused by an unforeseen event; usually a traffic incident, the weather, a vehicle breakdown, a work zone, or other atypical event. Even if planned in many cases, like work zones and special events, they are irregular and not predictable in location and duration.

Passengers (aviation, rail, seaport) – People in a vehicle making use of a mode.

Performance measure – A metric composed of a number and a unit of measure.

Quality of freight-related data – The National Cooperative Freight Research Program's 2011 report on performance measures included this statement: "A primary finding is that freight performance measurement is challenged both by an abundance of data and by a lack of complete data for many important freight system performance functions." While the amount of available data continues to grow, significant gaps remain, such as sufficient origin/destination data, estimates of value of cargo shipped, and network coverage. The quality of data is also affected by its age and how well it has been maintained. Data are ideally collected in a consistent manner year after year.

Quantity of freight-related data – While there continues to be gaps in the available freight data, the quantity of data is growing. GPS data provided through a partnership of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and ATRI create several new possibilities, particularly with regard to truck travel speed and reliability, but they also create new challenges for management and processing.

Recurring event – As it pertains to traffic, a recurring event is a traffic condition (i.e., a bottleneck or backup) that occurs in the same location and at the same time daily, albeit for weekday or weekend conditions. Examples would be peak hour slowdowns at junction points, intersections, and ramps. Drivers can plan for these events because they know by routine that such events will occur time and again in the same manner and place.

Reliability – The degree of certainty and predictability in travel times on the transportation system. Reliable transportation systems offer some assurance of attaining a given destination within a reasonable range of an expected time. An unreliable transportation system is subject to unexpected delays, increasing costs for system users.

Stakeholders – Public-sector agencies, community groups, and private-sector businesses that have a direct role in, or are affected by, transportation and land use planning and decision-making processes.

Supply Chain – Starts with unprocessed raw materials and ends with the final customer using the finished goods.

Sustainability – An objective calling for policies and strategies that meet society's present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

System – A combination of facilities or services forming a network or being selected for analysis.

Throughput – The maximum number of people or vehicles that can reasonably be expected to traverse a point or a uniform transportation facility section during a given time period under prevailing conditions.

Transit – A travel mode in which vehicles (including buses, streetcars, and street-running light rail) stop at regular intervals along the roadway to pick up and drop off passengers.

Travel time – The total time spent getting from one point to another.

Travel time reliability – The consistency or dependability in travel times, as measured from day-to-day and/or across different times of the day.

Truck – A heavy vehicle engaged primarily in the transport of goods and materials.

Truck probe data – Data collected by commercial GPS fleet management devices mounted on trucks. These data are processed in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and assigned to a roadway network to provide performance measures for individual segments.

Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) – The eight-foot by eight-foot by 20-foot intermodal container used as a basic measure used for container cargo.

Vehicle – A motorized mode of transportation.

Vehicle miles traveled (auto) – The total number of miles traveled by vehicles using a highway system.

Volume to capacity ratio – The ratio of demand to capacity.