Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Freight Plan
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Freight Plan Overview and Goals……………………………………………………………1
1.1
Overview of Approach and Methodology………………………………………………1
1.2
Organization of the Freight Plan………………………………………………………...2
1.3
Data Collection and Analysis……………………………………………………………3
1.4
Public and Stakeholder Participation Process………………………………………...4
1.5
Goals and Objectives…………………………………………………………………….5
1.5.1
Study Background…………………………………………………………………..5
1.5.2
Freight Plan Vision………………………………………………………………….5
1.5.3
Goals and Objectives……………………………………………………………….6
September 2010
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Freight Plan
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1.1
Freight Plan Overview and Goals
OVERVIEW OF APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) recognizes the importance of
goods movement to the mobility, economy, and quality of life in the Commonwealth. To fully
understand and facilitate the most efficient use of this important aspect of transportation,
MassDOT has produced this comprehensive multi-modal Massachusetts Freight Plan (Freight
Plan).
Efficient, cost-effective freight movement is an important element of economic competitiveness,
especially as domestic and global trade continues to expand. In addition, Massachusetts with
its relatively high per capita income is increasingly reliant on the delivery of consumer goods via
the freight system and distribution centers. And by its nature, freight operations interact closely
with passenger movements whether directly with passenger rail such as Amtrak and commuter
services, or indirectly with highways, airports, and seaports.
The purpose of the Freight Plan is to produce a comprehensive evaluation of the
Commonwealth’s freight transportation system, its operations, and its effect on economic
development and quality of life. The plan is multi-modal and intermodal in its scope, analysis,
and recommendations. The scope includes evaluation and analysis of:
Freight transportation infrastructure;
Freight sector operations and demands on the transportation system;
State, regional, national, and international freight trends and influences;
Freight system strengths, opportunities and challenges; and
Policy and investment consideration for state and local government and private industry.
The Freight Plan is primarily intended as a statewide initiative but given the nature of goods
movement and transportation policy, the analysis extends beyond the Commonwealth’s
borders to incorporate broader regional and national considerations and trends. Additionally
the Freight Plan examines how freight transportation improvements require partnership with
local, regional and private sector stakeholders throughout Massachusetts.
This planning effort also included the development of a comprehensive, stand-alone Rail Plan.
The Rail Plan incorporates the rail-related evaluation and deliverables from the multi-modal
Freight Plan, along with a more detailed analysis of all rail infrastructure and operations. This
rail-focused scope included evaluation and analysis of:
The inventory of rail facilities in the Commonwealth;
Evaluation of freight only rail lines;
Evaluation of passenger only rail lines;
Shared freight and passenger operations;
Intermodal freight and passenger connection; and
The major ongoing and future rail-related initiatives in Massachusetts.
The Rail Plan is fully compliant with the requirements set forth by the U.S. Department of
Transportation in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (49 CFR Part 266.15).
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1.2
ORGANIZATION OF THE FREIGHT PLAN
The Freight Plan provides a comprehensive evaluation of the freight system in Massachusetts
across multiple disciplines including infrastructure conditions, freight operations and logistics,
commodity trade flow analysis, economic development and land use, and detailed mode-bymode assessments. This analysis builds towards an evaluation of issues, opportunities, and
strategies to enhance the freight system. The Freight Plan includes specific performance
measures and evaluation criteria related to the goals and objectives.
The Freight Plan consists of the Executive Summary and the full technical report. The full
technical report is organized as follows.
Existing Conditions – This section provides a description of the Massachusetts freight system,
the infrastructure conditions and constraints, and the regional, national, international context for
trade and goods movement. It sets the baseline of current freight system conditions in
Massachusetts for evaluation of freight trends, potential investment strategies, and policy
recommendations. Specific elements of the existing conditions are:
Regional, national and international context – This section describes global trade and
logistics trends as well as key regional freight flows and connections as goods
movement tends to involve long-distance, multi-state shipments.
Massachusetts freight system infrastructure and operations by mode – Detailed
infrastructure and operational assessments for each mode, highway, rail, seaports, and
air, are provided in this section.
Future Conditions – This section is focused on economic and trade trends, issues, and
opportunities. The trade and economic analysis examines recent trends in terms of freight’s
role in the Commonwealth’s economy, land use development trends and issues, and key freight
flow data by mode, commodity and shipping pattern. Specific elements of the future conditions
are: economic, industry and land use development trends, which include measures on
economic and demographic growth, freight transportation contributions to the Massachusetts
economy, and industrial land use and freight facility data.
Freight flows, modal choices, and shipping patterns – This section offers freight and
trade shipping patterns by mode, commodity, origin-destination shipping patterns,
comparing Massachusetts and US trends. It also includes forecasts of freight growth.
Recent, on-going and planned freight initiatives in Massachusetts – The Commonwealth
has a number of recent, current, and planned transportation initiatives that will benefit
goods movement and this section highlights some of the key projects.
Issues and opportunities – This section describes the key freight issues and
opportunities for each mode and sets the stage for the investment scenario analysis that
follows.
Investment Scenario Analysis – To address the freight issues and opportunities identified
above, MassDOT developed a number of potential multi-modal freight investment strategies.
Each investment strategy consists of multiple projects and supporting policies. This section
presents those investment scenarios in detail, including a discussion of the evaluation criteria
and benefit-cost analysis framework and results developed to assess potential freight
investments. Specific elements of the investment scenario analysis are:
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Development of investment scenarios and goals – This section presents the process to
identify potential freight improvements based on data analysis and stakeholder input,
and explains the ultimate goals of freight investments in the Commonwealth.
Evaluation criteria and benefit-cost analysis framework –The Freight Plan developed a
freight-specific set of evaluation criteria as well as customized benefit-cost analysis tools
to assess the public and private benefits of freight investments.
Investment scenario results – Specific outcome metrics for each scenario are provided
and include benefit-cost ratios, net present value (NPV), and identification of the freight
projects likely to produce the greatest return on investment within each scenario.
Findings and Recommendations – The final section of the executive summary covers key
freight analysis findings and a series of policy and investment recommendations to guide the
Commonwealth’s freight-related initiatives in the near- and long-term. Specific elements of the
findings and recommendations are:
Freight investments with the highest return on investment (ROI) – Based on the
investment scenario analysis, this section focuses on the freight investments expected to
produce the strongest ROI for Massachusetts, highlighting opportunities for potential
Commonwealth participation in funding freight projects.
Policy issues and recommendations – The concluding section of the Freight Plan
includes specific policy issues and recommendations in terms of land use development,
freight funding, and the planning and regulatory environment.
The remainder of this chapter covers the overall approach to the Freight Plan including public
and stakeholder involvement process.
1.3
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
To develop this multi-modal freight plan, a wide range of data sources and analytical tools were
gathered, examined, and integrated. The most significant data resources for the Freight Plan
are summarized below. Other specific data or other information resources are identified in
relevant sections of the Freight Plan.
Economic Conditions and Trends – This analysis incorporates data from a number of
readily available data sources such as the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and
Workforce Development, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the
Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the IMPLAN economic model for Massachusetts.
Trade Flow Analysis – The major data sources to examine the movement of goods by
tonnage and value were: a) 2007 Global Insight TRANSEARCH data for county-level
goods movement by mode, weight, and commodity; b) Federal Highway Administration’s
Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) data; c) WISER import and export trade data; and d)
port-specific data and forecasts obtained from Massport and other ports.
Modal Assessments – MassDOT provided critical information on infrastructure,
operations, traffic volumes, truck routes, and other factors. Information was also
gathered directly from railroads, ports, and trucking and distribution organizations
through a series of interviews and outreach.
Land Use Development – The Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development
(MassEcon) provided data on available sites and buildings throughout the
Commonwealth, including rail-served sites using their SiteFinder database.
Performance Measures and Evaluation Criteria – The Freight Plan incorporated best
practices from a number of existing freight planning studies to determine a set of metrics
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that are readily available for use to track performance over time, and help evaluate and
prioritize investments.
Funding and Financing – Data on funding and financing were gathered directly from
MassDOT, along with Massport and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
(MBTA). In addition, the Freight Plan used information from published FHWA and US
DOT financing studies and programs to document best practices from other states and
available funding mechanisms.
Economic Benefit and Cost Analysis – The Freight Plan assessed the full-range of
economic impacts, benefits, and costs of proposed improvement strategies using a
customized Massachusetts version of the Transportation Economic Development Impact
System (TREDIS) provided by the Economic Development Research Group.
1.4
PUBLIC AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION PROCESS
A public and stakeholder participation process was woven into the development of the Freight
Plan with two primary goals: (1) to inform the public and key regional freight stakeholders about
the purpose and content of the state freight plans; and (2) to receive input from the public and
key regional freight stakeholders about issues and needs. The importance of the input provided
by the full-range of freight stakeholders cannot be overstated in terms of identifying issues, and
assessing potential investment and policy strategies.
To implement the public and stakeholder participation process, a concerted effort was made to
engage representatives from the thirteen Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs) in
Massachusetts. Regional planners actively assisted in the Freight Plan’s development by cohosting regional public meetings, identifying stakeholders, disseminating news and notices of
the study through regional contacts, mailing lists and newsletters and providing feedback on
freight issues within their regions.
To gain an early understanding of the freight trends and issues and opportunities, the outreach
in the initial phases of the Freight Plan was targeted to freight stakeholders and planners.
Dozens of stakeholders were interviewed for information related to specific stakeholder trends,
issues, and opportunities. Feedback was requested on potential strategies to improve the
freight system within the Commonwealth. Given the limitations of published data, these
interviews served to supplement the data analysis findings to better understand issues such as:
a) true origin to destination shipping patterns and modal needs; b) realistic opportunities to
divert freight from truck to other modes; and c) business and land use opportunities given
current and potential policy programs and incentives. A more detailed summary of the findings
from these interviews and focus group meetings can be found in the trade flow analysis chapter.
Specific efforts were made to meet with key agencies, organizations and freight service
providers and associations, including Massport and the Massachusetts Seaport Advisory
Council, Massachusetts Motor Transport Association, MBTA, the Executive Office of Housing
and Economic Development, MassEcon, MassDevelopment, and the Massachusetts Railroad
Association and its members.
A project website, www.mass.gov/massdot/freightandrailplan/, was created to provide
information on the development of the Freight Plan. Accessible information included study
documents and reports, notice of meetings, and summaries of public meetings. The website
also had a public comment section where people could voice opinions, read comments
submitted by others, and make direct contact with the Freight Plan team.
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At the initiation of the study, a Working Group consisting of the primary freight sector
stakeholders in Massachusetts was formed. Meetings of this group provided a forum for
detailed involvement and feedback. All major findings and products have been developed
under the guidance of the Working Group.
A series of Focus Group meetings were held at various stages of the Freight Plan’s
development to gather information and provide feedback on strategies. Participation in these
meetings ranged from six to 40 attendees. Meetings were held with the following groups: Port
Professionals Alliance (maritime), Boston Port Carriers (truck), and the Massachusetts Motor
Transport Association. Additionally, a discussion on land use development in relation to freight
infrastructure was held with regional planners, economic development officials, and key rail,
marine, and aviation stakeholders. Focus group meeting presentations are posted on the
Freight Plan web site.
Two rounds of Public Meetings were held within four regions – west, central, northeast, and
southeast sections – across the Commonwealth. The initial meeting was held in the fall of 2008
at the conclusion of the data gathering phase of work. Press releases were written and
distributed to dozens of newspapers announcing the public meetings. The second round of
meetings was held in March 2010, again with meetings in each of the four regions of
Massachusetts. The second round of meetings focused on the Freight Plan draft findings and
recommendations with emphasis on investment and policy strategies. About 160 individuals
attended each round of these meetings. Public meeting presentations and meeting notes are
posted on the Freight Plan web site. Input from these meetings was incorporated into the final
Freight Plan.
1.5
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
1.5.1 STUDY BACKGROUND
While Massachusetts has developed a number of regional and Commonwealth level
transportation studies, this is the first effort to provide a comprehensive multi-modal freight
evaluation. Consequently, an important element of the Freight Plan was to develop a unifying
vision, and a set of goals and objectives that can be linked to performance measures and
evaluation criteria. These metrics will be used to help: a) assess the overall performance and
improvement of the freight system; and b) help the Commonwealth to consistently assess and
prioritize investment and policy strategies.
1.5.2 FREIGHT PLAN VISION
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is one of the most economically competitive states in the
nation. It has the third highest per capita income in the US1 and has ranked number one in the
New Economy Index by the Kauffman Institute since 1999.2 This position of strength is owed to
a number of key assets: the knowledge based economy, which currently is witnessing industrial
expansion in the areas of biotech, defense, and medicine; the continued viability of traditional
industries such as cranberry farming and paper production; and the powerful and relatively
affluent consumer base made up of the citizens of the Commonwealth.
The vision for the future freight system in Massachusetts is to maintain and improve upon the
ability to efficiently, extensively, and safely transport goods within and across its borders by
1
2
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/ranks/rank29.html
http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedfiles/2008_state_new_economy_index_120908.pdf
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truck, train, ship, or plane. The Freight Plan sets forth policies and prioritizes investments to
facilitate the realization of the vision for the freight system. The realization of the vision for the
freight system is intended to provide public benefits in the form of the efficient movement of
goods and people that preserves and expands the economic viability of the Commonwealth and
enhances the well-being of its citizens.
1.5.3 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goals for the Massachusetts freight system were developed in the context of other
MassDOT initiatives and its overall strategic plan.
The MassDOT strategic plan includes a mission statement, “To deliver excellent customer
service to the people who travel in the Commonwealth and to provide our nation’s safest and
most reliable transportation system in a way that strengthens our economy and quality of life.”
To accomplish this, MassDOT has established goals as follows.3
Safety – Manage the nation’s safest transportation system
State of Good Repair – Build a quality transportation system and maintain it in a state
of good repair
Stewardship – Operate the transportation system in a manner that embraces our
stewardship of the Commonwealth’s natural, cultural, and historic resources
Customer Service – Deliver superb service that both anticipates and responds to
customer needs
Efficiency – Invest public funds and other resources wisely while fostering economic
development wherever and whenever possible
Consideration for the elements of the MassDOT strategic plan was incorporated in the
development of the Freight Plan.
Another key guiding principle for the Freight Plan was the GreenDOT Policy Directive. It is a
comprehensive sustainability initiative with a vision that MassDOT will be a national leader in
promoting sustainability through the full range of its activities, including strategic planning,
construction, and system operations. The three GreenDOT goals are to: 1) reduce greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions; 2) promote the healthy transportation modes of walking, bicycling, and
public transit; and 3) support smart growth development. Freight operations are an important
consideration in promoting a sustainable transportation system.
In the context of these MassDOT policies, overarching goals were identified for the
Massachusetts freight system as presented below.
Infrastructure – Promote the preservation and improvement of the freight system
infrastructure in all modes
Operations – Facilitate appropriate freight system capacity and redundancy, enhance
operational efficiency, and achieve a balanced mix of capacity and connections across
all modes
Economic Development – Facilitate freight transportation system improvements,
policies and investment strategies that will enhance economic development
opportunities and manage consumer costs
3
MassDOT Strategic Plan, May 14, 2010.
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Environment and Quality of Life – Ensure that the freight system preserves the
environment and contributes to the quality of life in Massachusetts
To fulfill these goals, the Freight Plan is focused on providing transportation infrastructure and
services in Massachusetts that: 1) facilitate the movement of goods to consumers efficiently and
cost-effectively; 2) support economic prosperity for Massachusetts businesses; and 3) promote
a strong quality of life for Massachusetts residents. The recommended investments and
policies of the Freight Plan were developed in this context and the analysis of benefits and costs
of freight improvements explicitly measured: a) the transportation costs, travel time, safety, and
efficiency of goods movement; b) the environmental benefits of shipping more freight by rail and
water; and c) the economic impacts of potential investments.
Specific policy and performance objectives tied to the goals of infrastructure, operations,
economic development, and environment and quality of life are presented below.
Infrastructure and Operations – Ensure adequate capacity and operational efficiency of the
freight system in Massachusetts.
Objectives
Ensure adequate multi-modal and intermodal freight capacity throughout Massachusetts
Provide infrastructure redundancy and competitive freight corridors and routes to meet
domestic and global demand
Reduce delays and bottlenecks across the multi-modal freight system by optimizing the
operations of existing facilities and pursuing strategic capacity enhancements
Ensure effective freight and passenger rail usage of shared rail infrastructure and
operations
Provide infrastructure improvements to maintain and expand competitive freight flows to
and from the Commonwealth
Reduce the number of freight related accidents in the Commonwealth
Provide redundancy and flexibility within the system to meet unanticipated events and
aid emergency response
Economic Development – Support development and a healthy economy through informed
investment in the freight and passenger rail system.
Objectives
Provide an efficient, competitive, and low cost shipping network for Massachusetts which
will benefit businesses across all key industries, as well as consumers
Enhance the integration of land use, economic development, and freight transportation,
including maintaining and preserving strategic sites and areas within the Commonwealth
for freight-related activities
Encourage freight transportation investments with positive economic benefits to the
Massachusetts economy
Mitigate and minimize land use conflicts with freight transportation, and encourage
freight- and rail-oriented development opportunities
Preserve and enhance freight-related economic activity (jobs, wages) in strategic
locations throughout Massachusetts
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Environment and Quality of Life – Ensure that improvements to the freight system do not
negatively impact the environment and help improve the quality of life for Massachusetts
residents.
Objectives
Enhance and promote the linkage between an efficient freight system and sustainable
development in the Commonwealth
Enhance and promote the linkage between an efficient passenger rail system and
sustainable development in the Commonwealth
Encourage freight modes, strategies, and investments that promote environmental
benefits and minimize negative effects
Identify and implement freight-related technologies and policies that improve or protect
the natural environment
These objectives are reflected in the development of investment scenarios, the quantitative
evaluation of scenarios, and the Freight Plan findings and recommendations for both
infrastructure and policy.
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