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Title:

Public Impacts of Domestic Freight Transportation: Modal Comparison

Accession Number:

01122077

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

This unprecedented research study evaluated and compared the main impacts that could be expected in the event of a theoretical diversion of 100% of the freight currently transported on inland waterways to either the highway mode or the rail mode. The waterways considered were the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, and Columbia/Snake rivers, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The impacts were classified in six categories: cargo capacity, traffic congestion, air quality, energy efficiency, safety, and infrastructure. Multimodal comparisons for each impact category were facilitated through the development of rates per ton-mile. Every effort was made to use credible, publicly available, and independently verifiable data from federal, industry or research sources for 2005, the study year. The scope of the study and several data limitations necessitated the use of assumptions based on sound engineering principles and the development of an innovative methodology in order to arrive at plausible results and fulfill the unconventional objectives of the study. The study concluded that waterborne transportation is advantageous in terms of the impacts examined over the rail or highway modes. Any waterborne freight diversion to either of the two modes would likely result in serious impacts to their freight transportation operations and possible system breakdowns. Chain reaction effects would severely jeopardize the well-being of the general public and the economy of the nation.

Monograph Accession #:

01120148

Report/Paper Numbers:

09-1107

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Protopapa, Annie
Kruse, Carl James
Olson, Leslie
Bierling, David H

Pagination:

14p

Publication Date:

2009

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2009-1-11 to 2009-1-15
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

DVD

Features:

Figures (2) ; References; Tables (6)

Subject Areas:

Freight Transportation; Highways; Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-1107

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Jan 30 2009 5:19PM