The essence of planning is a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of policies, programs and projects upon the system under consideration and its socio-economic environment. In transportation planning, this concept translates into the consideration of the interactions among multiple transportation modes, and between transportation and land use, the economy and the environment. In this overall context, analytical transportation planning relies on the use of models to assess the impacts of the proposed alternatives. In the area of passenger transportation, there is a long-standing analytical tradition of considering interactions among passenger transportation demand and land use and, to a lesser degree, between passenger transportation and the other economic sectors. Unfortunately, freight transportation does not have a comparable history. This situation seems to be the result of a combination of factors ranging from lack of awareness of the importance of freight transportation, to the inherent and staggering complexity of freight movements into, out of within urban areas.

However, the confluence of a number of relatively recent trends is pushing freight transportation to the forefront of issues. Economic globalization, electronic commerce and the Internet are profoundly changing the geographic realm and the features of economic markets. Just In Time production systems are stressing the importance of the freight system as the conveyor of high priority goods. Increased awareness among community leaders, environmental professionals and legislators about the health effects of truck traffic pollution is adding pressure for an enhanced consideration of freight transportation as part of the transportation planning process. However high this pressure may be, the effective integration of freight transportation planning faces significant methodological challenges.

Some of the above trends have implications directly related to the scope of this paper. The prospect of e-commerce generating a significant number of small deliveries, most likely in small delivery vans, and the resulting increase in urban congestion, should call for the implementation of effective freight transportation planning processes that for the most part are absent in the planning studies at Metropolitan Planning Organizations. However, due to the combination of the global economic trends discussed at the beginning of this document, a number of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) are becoming increasingly interested in structuring formal freight transportation planning procedures. As a result, there is renewed interest in the development of the freight transportation models that are needed to support the planning process. This research project is a reflection of such a trend. It originated from the interest of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), the MPO of the New York City region, in strengthening its freight transportation modeling capabilities to support its emergent freight transportation planning process.

The main objective of this report is to conduct an assessment of the different freight transportation modeling methodologies. The report begins with a definition of the main objectives and scope of the regional freight model, followed by a discussion of the main freight transportation issues in the NYMTC region, and the potential role of the regional freight model.

The main methodological alternatives are discussed next. This includes a brief description of the different models and a preliminary assessment of: (a) data requirements, (b) staff requirements; (c) computing power required; (d) adequacy to NYMTC's conditions; (e) practicality; and (f) conceptual validity. The final section presents a summary of the key findings of this project.