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Freight Transportation Planning

The U.S. economy is increasingly reliant on freight movement. Unfortunately, freight movement in the United States is constrained to some extent by its lack of exposure and an emphasis by politicians and the public on passengers. Thus freight has taken a backseat in regional planning by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Metropolitan regions wanting to improve their economies, however, cannot do so without embracing freight, but these regions may not have attempted to plan for freight regionally and thus do not know how to start or what to do. Therefore, if MPOs better understand how to conduct effective freight planning, they can implement successful freight planning programs in their regions. A useful way to do this is to survey existing MPO freight planning processes. Several MPOs have substantial freight components and plan for freight effectively. A nationwide benchmarking and best-practices survey of freight transportation planning of MPOs was conducted. The survey and resulting analysis provide guidelines, ideas, and strategies for MPOs that want to set up or improve current freight transportation planning practices.