ITRE Seeks to Engage Members of the NC Trucking Association in Charlotte, NC's Desire to Develop a Freight Mobility Plan

On June 16, Dr. Hughes, Director of ITRE's CMV Research Group, made a presentation to members of the North Carolina Trucking Association (NCTA) and to members of the City of Charlotte DOT, representatives of the Centrolina Council of Governments (CCOG), and to representatives of the UNC-Charlotte Center for Transportation Policy Studies.

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Trucking 101: An Industry Primer

Transportation Research Board e-Circular Number E-C146: Trucking 101: An Industry Primer (PDF).

"The intent of this document is to provide a basic picture of the structure of the US trucking industry for public officials, policy makers, engineers, administrators, planners, academic researchers, journalists, and anyone who needs to think about issues affecting, or affected by, trucking."  (From the Preface to the published report)

Visualizing Freight Data: Presentation at SHRP2 Symposium

The TRB Visualization in Transportation Committee (ABJ95) has been invited to make a presentation to the TRB SHRP2 Symposium, September 14-15, 2010 on Innovations in Freight Demand Modeling and Data. The committee has been asked to share with those in attendance ideas on the SHRP presentation as of September 10 (PDF:8.53MB) - notes for the presentation are available in the PDF by placing the cursor over the orange comment icon in the upper left of the page.

ABJ95 earlier (July 2009) submitted a TRB Research Need Statement on Application of Data Visualization and Visual Analytics to Freight Operations and Logistics at the Sub-National Level.

ITRE, along with researchers at ALK have also submitted a paper  to TRB for presentation/publication for consideration at the January 2011 annual meeting on this same topic.

"After a lot of thinking about visualization and the area of freight data, I for one have come to some conclusions" Read more >> 

Aside from ITRE’s interest in this topic from a data visualization standpoint (i.e., via its Visual Analytics, Modeling, and Simulation (VAMS) research group), it is also interested from the standpoint of VAM’s work with the motor carrier enforcement group of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (i.e., the ‘highway’ component of the larger freight system).

ITRE has registered its concerns with the proposed introduction of ‘more productive vehicles’ (i.e., longer, heavier combination vehicles) both from a safety standpoint as well as from a concern for protection of the state’s roadway infrastructure (more). ITRE’s efforts to help with the development of a Statewide Freight Plan emphasize the requirement to fully address the future needs of commercial motor vehicle users for a significantly expanded, more ‘connected’ roadway network for use by longer and heavier commercial vehicles.

It goes without saying that the design of the roadways, bridges, etc. included in this expanded truck network should meet or exceed the unique operating (braking, off tracking, etc.) requirements for such vehicles so as not to negatively impact the safety of other vehicle operators in an increasingly congested, shared use environment.

The Expressed TRB / Industry Need to ‘Visualize’ Freight Data

Some thoughts by Dr. Ron Hughes on the current TRB Visualization Committee’s Research Need Statement (RNS) on the application of visualization and visual analytics to freight data.

A "puzzling result": Visualizing the relationship between projected tonnage to be transported by truck (2000-2050) — from FHWA2009 Freight Facts and Figures — and projections of U.S. population growth during that same period.

An attempt to "put into words and pictures" our thinking of what types of freight data, it may be most productive to "visualize" (i.e., a graphic output of a model/simulation of the dynamic interaction of the variables of which freight ‘operations’ is a function...in addition to the increased use of simple interactive graphing/charting displays of system attributes and performance output metrics). Learn more through through this PowerPoint show,"Freight Data: What Should We Visualize?" (PPS: 884KB)

Freight Facts and Figures 2009

Freight Facts and Figures 2009 is a snapshot of the volume and value of freight flows in the United States, the physical network over which freight moves, the economic conditions that generate freight movements, the industry that carries freight, and the safety, energy, and environmental implications of freight transportation. This snapshot helps decision makers, planners, and the public understand the magnitude and importance of freight transportation in the economy. An electronic version of this publication is available at www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight.

Trucks, Logistics, and Transportation Policy

On February 13, 2009, Dr. Ron Hughes was the guest lecturer at a UNC-Charlotte graduate seminar on transportation policy. The slides used in Dr. Hughes’ presentation are available here. The presentation was made at the request of Dr. Edd Hauser, head of the UNC-C Center for Transportation Policy Read More >>