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Ballard Cordon Data Collection for Trucks and Cars (Task Order 8)

The Ballard Cordon Data Collection for Trucks and Cars is an analysis research project to be conducted by the Urban Freight Lab for the City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Truck and car counts will be collected by reviewing video data for Major Truck Streets using the same Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) vehicle classification and additional large classifications as was developed and performed in the Greater Downtown Seattle Area Cordon Data Collection for Trucks and Cars project. This will enable SDOT to consider the impacts of various economic growth scenarios, advanced freight vehicle technologies, and other drivers (social, demographic, and policy changes) on truck routes.

Task 1 – Kickoff Meeting
SCTL will hold a kick-off meeting to:

  1. Identify count locations from which 48-hour and 72-hour data will be gathered and processed throughout the City.
  2. Identify prioritized count locations generally in the Ballard neighborhood and Ballard Interbay North Manufacturing and Industrial Center (BINMIC) for which a preliminary analysis will be provided.

Task 2 – Corridor Data Analysis
SCTL will review collected truck and car counts from video data recorded:

  1. SCTL will provide analysis regarding directionality, type, and any trends observed in the transcribed video based on developed typology of truck and van vehicle types for the video count data provided.
  2. The analysis will be divided into three categories:
    • A review of all cordon counts, including cordon counts around the downtown core
    • A review of Major Truck Street corridors on which counts were taken
    • A review of counts related to the BINMIC​

Task 3 – Reporting
The Urban Freight Lab will produce a written report documenting the methodology used and explaining the data collection, with simple descriptive statistics.

Technical Report

Development of a Freight Benefit/Cost Methodology for Project Planning

 
Download PDF  (1.32 MB)
Publication: Washington State Department of Transportation, Pacific NW Transportation Consortium (PacTrans)
Publication Date: 2013
Summary:
Future reauthorizations of the federal transportation bill will require a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the freight benefits of proposed freight system projects. To prioritize public investments in freight systems and to ensure consideration of the contribution of freight to the overall system performance, states and regions need an improved method to analyze freight benefits associated with proposed highway and truck intermodal improvements that would lead to enhanced trade and sustainable economic growth, improved safety and environmental quality, and goods delivery in Washington State.
This project develops a process to address this need by building on previous and ongoing research by some project team members to develop an agency-friendly, data-supported framework to prioritize public investments for freight systems in Washington and Oregon. The project integrates two ongoing WSDOT-funded efforts: one to create methods to calculate the value of truck and truck-intermodal infrastructure projects and the other to collect truck probe data from commercial GPS devices to create a statewide Freight Performance Measures (FPM) program. This integration informs the development of a framework that allows public agencies to quantify freight investment benefits in specific areas such as major freight corridors and across borders.

 

 

Authors: Dr. Anne GoodchildDr. Ed McCormack, Ken Casavant, Zun Wang, B Starr McMullen, Daniel Holder
Recommended Citation:
Casavant, Ken, Anne Goodchild, Ed McCormack, Zun Wang, B. Starr McMullen, and Daniel Holder. "Development of a Freight Benefit/Cost Methodology for Project Planning."