United States - European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries, Volume II
Overview of 2018-2019 International Urban Freight Roundtables
| Research | Pilot | United States |
Freight Fluidity Implementation
The term "freight fluidity" broadly refers to the performance of transportation supply chains and freight networks. In practice, it is a measure of a supply chain's performance for either one single mode or multiple modes of freight transportation. This project is developing a practical "freight fluidity" framework for tracking and measuring a supply chain's freight performance using travel time, travel time reliability, and cost as its performance metrics. The framework has been under development for more than a year at Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), and the project team is currently demonstrating and implementing it in several areas around the country. These include Texas (statewide and border fluidity) and Maryland using high truck volume corridors and key activity centers (high-density urban freight locations). The project also provides technical assistance to the development of FHWA's National Freight Fluidity Monitoring Program Implementation, including identifying appropriate supply chains, data sourcing, and regional implementation through a consultant team. TTI is also developing and implementing a freight fluidity performance management framework for U.S. ports for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Mobile, Alabama port demonstration) and assisting Transport Canada with intercity fluidity measure calculations.
Project Types
Research, Pilot.
Period of Performance
Ongoing.
Project Sites
United States (Texas, Maryland, Alabama) and Canada.
Contact
Bill Eisele
Senior Research Engineer
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
College Station, TX, USA
Bill-Eisele@tamu.edu
(979) 845-8550
Topics Addressed
- Air quality/environment.
- Building/road design.
- Last mile delivery.
- Logistics/distribution.
- Mobility/congestion.
Expected Outcomes
Frameworks and implementation/demonstration of freight fluidity concepts at the regional and statewide levels. The eventual goal is national/international supply chain implementation of these frameworks and concepts via a freight fluidity tool or other interface.
Stakeholder Involvement
Federal, State, and local transportation agencies, including Texas DOT, to demonstrate concepts both statewide and at the international border; Maryland State Highway Administration, Colorado DOT, FHWA, Transport Canada, and the Army Corps of Engineers.
