A Freight Policy Analysis Tool (FPAT) for Supply-Chain Systems
Over the last two decades, the worldwide trend toward leaner supply chains has caused rapid growth in trucking activities. In the United States, the average length of shipments by trucks increased from 144 miles in 1993 to 199 miles in 2002, and truck ton-miles per capita increased by 35 percent, from 3,373 ton-miles to 4,552 ton-miles, for the same time period (BTS, 2004). Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Transportation predicts that the total truck VMT will increase by nearly 70 percent by 2020 (AASHTO, 2003). Needless to say, this will put even more strain on roadway systems in the urban areas that have already experienced a four-fold increase in the average annual delay between 1982 and 2001 (Shrank and Lomax, 2003).
The center has begun research on a Freight Policy Analysis Tool, a comprehensive decision-support tool, for the Chicago region that can assist public agencies in the formulation of effective strategies to cope with the truck traffic. While our initial effort concentrates on freight, FPAT will be a prototype of an integrated land-use-transportation model that is desperately needed for this region to prepare the coherent strategies that balance the concern for the environment and quality of life against the need for greater mobility, economic development, and seemingly insatiable appetite for land consumption.
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