Year 19 (FY '11) Work Planning Schedule

The Intermodal Freight & Passenger Movement Committee met on September 14th at Maryland DOT Headquarters and via webcast to finalize the committee's Year 19 (FY '11) Work Plan project idea submissions and address other committee business. Following the meeting a preliminary work plan was distributed to the IMPTC for review and comment by October 15th. IMPTC leadership and Coalition staff addressed all comments received and worked with project submission contacts to finalize the project descriptions. Specifically, the Implementing Sustainable Delivery Innovations project was broken down and budgeted by task and the 2011 ITS World Congress CVII Demonstration effort now reflects a maximum funding amount of $25k, reduced from $75k.

In addition, the recent (August 26th) solicitation for proposals to FHWA's Truck Parking Facilities Program was announced at the September 14th work planning meeting. The Truck Parking project stakeholders were convened to discuss the merits and potential focus areas to be proposed. The technical project team worked with members and developed a proposal to include expanded the geographic reach and system the functionality of the current Truck Parking initiative. The proposal was submitted to FHWA on October 26th and will be posted to the Coalition website shortly.

Please direct any comments, questions, or concerns regarding the work plan or other committee activity to: Marygrace Parker @ i95mgp@ttlc.net.

View IMPTC Year 19 (FY '11) Work Plan Submission

U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Announces Designation of “M-95” – the Marine Highway Corridor Serving the Landside I-95 Corridor

M-95 Designation, Projects and Initiatives to Benefit I-95 Corridor Coalition States

The I-95 Corridor Coalition’s waterside system was selected as a Marine Highway Corridor under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) America’s Marine Highway Program, a new initiative to move more cargo on the water rather than on crowded highways. As the sponsor of the M-95 Marine Highway Corridor, the I-95 Corridor Coalition will be assisted by the USDOT Maritime Administration in developing transportation services and with identifying potential freight and passenger markets.

In addition to the M-95 Marine Highway Corridor designation, several projects and initiatives in the I-95 Corridor were selected to be eligible for federal assistance under the Program. “These projects will help make better use of America’s Marine Highway by reducing gridlock, improving the environment, and putting skilled mariners and shipbuilders to work,” said David Matsuda, Maritime Administrator.

Projects and Initiatives selected in the I-95 Corridor include:

• Cross Sound Enhancements Project (Connecticut DOT)
• New England Marine Highway Expansion Project (Maine DOT)
• Cross Gulf Container Expansion Project (Ports of Manatee, FL, and Brownsville, TX)
• Gulf Atlantic Marine Highway Project (South Carolina State Ports Authority and Port of Galveston, TX)
• Trans-Hudson Rail Service Project (Port Authority of New York & New Jersey)
• James River Container Expansion Project (Virginia Port Authority)
• Hudson River Food Corridor Initiative (New York City Soil & Water Conservation District) 
• New Jersey Marine Highway Initiative (New Jersey DOT)
• East Coast Marine Highway Initiative (Ports of New Bedford, MA, Baltimore, MD, and Canaveral, FL)

M-95 Marine Highway Corridor Attributes:

The 1,925 mile-long I-95 Corridor is the major North-South landside freight corridor on the East Coast. The USDOT identified more than a dozen major freight truck bottlenecks along this route, along with significant critical rail congestion along the upper portions. Projections of future freight volumes indicate increasing freight congestion challenges, with limited opportunity to increase landside capacity.

The Corridor is home to 15 of the largest 50 marine ports in the United States (as ranked by total throughput). These ports handle approximately 582 million short tons of cargo, or 26 percent of the national total. Much of this freight begins or ends its journeys with an I-95 transit. Fortunately, the East coast also possesses a host of waterways, bays, rivers, and the Atlantic coast itself. The Corridor is also lined with less congested, smaller niche ports that could play a vital part in the developing marine highway service network. While several Marine Highway operations already serve this corridor, there is significant opportunity for expansion to help address growing congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve energy, and lower landside infrastructure maintenance costs.

View additional information on America’s Marine Highway Program (USDOT Maritime Administration)

Congratulations to the Freight Academy Class of 2010

After an intensive, exciting and sometimes exhausting “immersion week,” the 31 public sector agency participants of the recent I-95 Corridor Coalition Freight Academy learned firsthand how the private sector supply chain works and how to use that knowledge in their public-sector decision making. Our congratulations to the Freight Academy participants - representing Coalition member agencies, other State DOTs, USDOT, and metropolitan planning organizations, (see participants list below) - for successful completion of the program. Additionally, we extend our thanks for the support of our members in providing instruction and facility tours - greatly enhancing the learning experience. As quoted by one participant, “I consider the immersion experience you folks put together to be one of the most productive learning exercises I’ve experienced in a long, long time.”

Through classroom sessions and on-site field visits, the program participants were given unique perspectives on goods movement and the supply chain from shippers, warehouse and distribution center operators, port and terminal operators, trucking companies, and Class 1 and short line railroad operators, among others. The program also included current perspectives from the public sector by FHWA Deputy Administrator Gregory Nadeau and New Jersey DOT Commissioner James S. Simpson.

Thanks to the support of Coalition longtime member agency Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and their colleagues at New York Shipping Association and Maher Terminals, participants viewed the high volume, fast-paced marine, terminal and inland movement operations at Port Newark/Elizabeth. Freight transportation’s reliance on all modes as a system was further demonstrated as participants received a briefing on freight cargo operations at Newark Liberty Airport along with a tour of the Airport’s FedEx Cargo operations. Mr. Mike Parker, Senior Director of Grocery Transportation for the Walmart Corporation provided the keynote dinner address, noting that many of the key market areas for his company were located in the same geographical areas that are facing ever-growing congestion and mobility challenges. Academy instructors represented household names such as Campbell’s, Perdue and the Johnson and Johnson Company. Field sites such as Lifetime Brands, Hall’s Refrigerated, the Judge Organization and the Raritan Industrial Park/Freight Village provided behind the scene looks at the supply chain in action. A continued theme heard throughout the week was the importance of a safe, secure, efficient and reliable freight transportation network in enhancing continued U.S. economic development and global competitiveness. Participants “saw green” as they viewed and heard how the freight industry has implemented environmental practices including solar panels on warehouse rooftops, electricity use management, more fuel efficient or alternatively powered trucks, collaborative practices to reduce empty truck miles, electric container cranes and port equipment, and CSX’s “next generation” locomotive. This second offering of the I-95 Corridor Coalition Freight Academy was held April 18 – 23, with Rutger’s University’s Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) once again graciously providing the venue for classroom facilities. Freight Academy participant Chris Smith, AASHTO’s Intermodal Policy & Program Manager, noted, “The Freight Academy is a must for public officials tasked with the job of understanding, planning for, and encouraging freight transportation, economic growth and development in their community."

Additional information on the full 2010 Freight Academy program, including field visit venues, instructors and curriculum can be found at www.freightacademy.org. We look forward to the next Freight Academy in Spring of 2011, and will provide details as the date nears.

Attending the 2010 program were:

• AASHTO – Chris Smith
• Baltimore Metropolitan Council – Bala Akundi
• Federal Highway Administration – Maria Chau, Carl Millard, Steve Pyburn, Kris Riesenberg, Ralph Volpe
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration – Olu Ajayi
• Florida DOT – Jennifer Fortunas
• Georgia DOT – Matthew Fowler
• Houston-Galveston Area Council – Chandra Carrasco
• Maryland DOT – Andrew Dentamaro
• Massachusetts DOT – Paul Nelson
• Minnesota DOT – John Tompkins
• Mississippi DOT – Robert Burt
• New Jersey DOT – Scott Douglas, Miki Krakauer
• New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority – Jeffrey Vernick
• New York City Economic Development Corporation – Joshua Nelson
• New York State DOT – Raymond Hessinger, Rob Limoges, David Rosenberg 
• North Carolina DOT – Terry Arellano, Roberto Canales
• Port Authority of NY & NJ – Vicente Mantero, Amanda Valdes
• Quebec Ministry of Transportation – Christian Bisson
• USDOT Maritime Administration – Anthony Shuler
• USDOT Volpe Center – Alisa Fine
• Vermont AOT – Costa Pappis
• Virginia DOT – William Guiher

FHWA & I-95 Corridor Coalition Release Report on Multi-State Institutions for Implementing Improved Freight Movement in the U.S.

The Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Freight Management and Operations, in conjunction with the I-95 Corridor Coalition, has released a White Paper on Multi-State Institutions for Implementing Improved Freight Movement in the U.S. Accompanying this White Paper is a summary of a Roundtable held to obtain advice from a group of national experts about potential multi-state institutional arrangements to improve freight corridor performance. This work is intended to serve as a background piece to help practitioners and policymakers think through solution sets.

The White Paper describes eight types of institutional options, illustrated by 80 examples. The assessment of institutional models suggests several principles that could be used to determine which institutional arrangements might be most appropriate to meet multi-state transportation needs under differing circumstances, and illustrates how these principles might be applied in order to help improve the performance of multi-state freight corridors Finally, the paper offers an analysis of institutional implications of the House Committee’s 2009 Surface Transportation Freight Authorization Provisions.

The White Paper and Roundtable Summary can be found at the links below:

Roundtable: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/documents/mscrt/index.htm

Whitepaper: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/documents/msiwp/index.htm

Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Study - Phase II

The MAROps Phase II study examines the condition and performance of the regional rail system, updating the findings of the widely recognized and acclaimed 2002 Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Phase I study. The studies are part of a continuing initiative of the I-95 Corridor Coalition, five Mid-Atlantic states (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia), and three railroads (Amtrak, CSX, and Norfolk Southern) to understand the impact of rail choke points on rail freight transportation and the economy of the region.

As outlined in the report, the Phase II MAROps program would involve implementation of 217 projects, including 110 projects to add mainline capacity and 81 projects to provide doublestack clearance. Identified projects span various capital and technological approaches, including expanded terminal capacity, removal or rebuilding of grade crossings, replacement or rehabilitation of outdated bridges and tunnels, and adding new communication and technology systems to improve safety and the coordination of train movements.

The five states and the railroads have invested in a number of projects to improve regionial rail capacity since the Phase I study and continue to do so, including pursuing funding for some of the priority projects outlined in the MAROps study through federal legislative opportunities (i.e. ARRA, TIGER). Implementing the full MAROps program, estimated to cost about $12 billion over the 30-year period, would maintain the capacity of the system.

View the Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Study Phase II Executive Summary  and Final Report.
View project overview and details.

The objective of the Mid-Atlantic Truck Operations Study (MATOps) was to identify and analyze major highway bottlenecks causing delay to trucks traveling on the Mid-Atlantic region's highway system and assess overall impacts of these bottlenecks on freight movements and the regional economy. 

The project leverages research on national highway and truck bottlenecks conducted by the Federal Highway Administration.  The MATOps Report identified and analyzed truck bottlenecks in the Mid-Atlantic region and identified the five top bottlenecks in each of the states of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and four top bottlenecks in Delaware.  These 29 bottlenecks were shown to account for 47% of all truck-hours of delay accured at bottlenecks within the Mid-Atlantic region.  The annual impacts of truck delays from these bottlenecks account for some $334 million in lost time, 16 million gallons in fuel burned and 0.18 million tons in carbon dioxide emissions.  Most of the identified bottlenecks are strung closely together.  Many trucks using the Mid-Atlantic region encounter one or more strings of bottlenecks, depending on their route and the time of day.  Improvements in one bottleneck, without addressing others in the string, will likely shift the congestion/delay to the next downstream bottleneck.  Accordingly, to achieve significant reductions in truck delay and improve freight flows along the Mid-Atlantic trade corridors, strings of bottlenecks must be considered and managed as a whole.  The planning, funding and implementing of improvements to address these bottlenecks are likely to be best served by continued cooperation and collaboration between the MATOps states.

The Mid-Atlantic Truck Operations Study Phase I Executive Summary  and Final Report  are now available.

  View project overview and details.

Industry and government continue to be concerned about the capacity of ports and intermodal terminals and the highways rail lines, and waterways that serve them to handle steadily increasing volumes of intermodal traffic, especially containerized freight. The volume of intermodal freight traffic is growing significantly. The number of intermodal containers moving through ports worldwide doubled during the 1990s, and intermodal air freight, intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads, and the volume of intermodal freight moved by truck grew apace. Volumes are expected to double again over the next decade.

The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has focused efforts on investigating ways the US marine transportation system can be used to more effectively manage freight growth and provide an effective alternative to the landside transportation system.  One strategy that may mitigate the effects of congestion and effectively increase the capacity available to freight shipments is to expand the use of coastal shipping (aka “short-sea feeder”) services. Short-sea feeder services are barge or ship services that carry containers between large marine hubs and satellite marine ports. Where containers can be moved economically and reliably by short-sea feeder services, the services may reduce the need for parallel truck or rail moves, and help relieve highway and rail congeston. 

The Coalition's Short-Sea and Coastal Options Phase I Study provided an opportunity for the Coalition to engage shippers, carriers, manufacturers, and industry groups in identifying the issues surrounding short-sea/coastal shipping and passenger ferry services and to begin to evaluate the feasibility of employing such strategies on the East Coast. With several short-sea shipping activities already underway along the Corridor and given the expanse of coastal and inland waterways in the Coalition region the number of ports located along the Corridor and the volume of freight movement, the Coalition study examined how short-sea and coastal shipping may provide an additional modal option to be expanded that could reduce freight congestion and expand use of waterways as a transportation mode.

The Coalition's Phase II effort is continuing to advance consideration of short-sea and coastal shipping as a modal option in the Corridor.  As USDOT Maritime Administration proceeds with the development of  "America's Marine HIghway System", the Coalition is working with its members and stakeholders by engaging them in efforts that continue to provide dialogue and input to USDOT on this topic and to enhance recognition of the I-95 Corridor Maine to Florida region as a signfiicant area to be considered for designation as a Marine Highway Corridor and for projects that may enhance the potential for success of this modal option.

  View project overview and details information.