Highway Freight
Movement Wisconsin Initiatives
presented to
AASHTO BOD Roundtable
November 19, 2012
presented by
Mark Gottlieb
Secretary,
Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Chair
AASHTO Subcommittee on Highway Transport
Nov 2012
Areas of Emphasis
Freight Operations and Safety
• Great Lakes Regional Transportation Operations Coalition
• Wisconsin Truck Parking Grant
• Safety and Design Support
Industry Engagement, Reform, and Network Planning
• Annual Freight Summits
• Regulatory Reform and Harmonization
• The Priority Freight Network
AASHTO SCOHT Resolution
*Source: Wisconsin Connections 2030 Plan; WisDOT Strategy 2010-2011
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Freight Operations and Safety
GLRTOC Partners & Mission
The Great Lakes Regional Transportation Operations
Coalition (GLRTOC)
 Founded 2009
 Eight Member Agencies
Mission: Improve crossregional transportation
operations in support of
regional economic
competitiveness and improved
quality of life.
Freight Operations and Safety
GLRTOC Strategies & MCOM Award

Three Strategic Focus Areas
 Efficient freight
operations
 Reliable mobility
 TIM / ETO

Multistate Corridor Operations
and Management (MCOM) Award (2013-2015)
 Connected Centers and Gateway System Expansion
 Smart Work Zone Collaboration and Performance
Freight Operations and Safety
Truck Parking
FHWA Discretionary Truck Parking Grant.
• Received $1.0 million (Requested $1.8 Million).
• Plan will include both public rest stops and
private truck stops along I-94.
• Building from lessons learned from the
experiences of Minnesota, Michigan, and others
gaining efficiencies.
• Provide real time information about available
parking space upstream and online.
• Support integrated multi-state regional
transportation operations and services for our
freight stakeholders.
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Freight Reform Initiative
• Inviting industry to participate in
annual Freight Summits.
• Regulatory reform and multi-
state harmonization.
• Development of a Multimodal
Priority Freight Network.
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Annual Freight Summits
Understand
issues of
greatest
importance to
industry
Generate
targeted
feedback on
industry needs
Strengthen
relationships
with high level
industry
leaders
Develop a base
for WisDOT
actions and
initiatives
moving
forward
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Regulatory/TS&W Changes
•
Repealed permit requirement for 3-vehicle recreational
combination.
•
Repealed permit requirement for utilities/co-ops/suppliers
to haul poles and pipes over legal length.
•
Increased single vehicle legal length from 40 ft. to 45 ft.
•
Increased combination vehicle length from 65 ft. to 75 ft.
•
New “Farm and Field” permit allowing hauling of
agricultural commodities to or from a farm or field at 90K
lbs on 6 axles (except Interstates).
•
New “Sealed Transport” permit allowing hauling of
sealed international containers at 90K lbs on 6 axles
including Interstates.
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Harmonization
Minnesota/Wisconsin MOU - Harmonize permit
conditions and size/weight law between states.
Work together on development of an electronic
interface between MN and WI permit systems.
» This Portal will eliminate having to enter duplicative
application data.
» Both states will review their portions of the route and
issue permits according to existing state law.
Have regular operational contact to keep the sister
state informed on near border restrictions and head off
cross-border re-routes.
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Freight Network Project
To better address freight related issues, and to be responsive
to freight industry needs, we set out to:
Develop a prioritized transportation network
that targets freight mobility needs.
Establish a dynamic process that defines a short
term program of potential activities, including
ongoing data updates.
Encourage increased integration of freight data
into WisDOT program and policy decisions.
Create an investment and decision support tool,
NOT a long range plan or State Freight Plan.
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Priority Highway “Freight Factor”
Highway segment based scoring developed to summarize
many freight-specific data points.
Highway segment scores over 1 have met at least one of
the criteria thresholds, which were set high (all scoring
values are well above the statewide average).
Higher scoring segments have a relatively higher freight
mobility value, and can be used for prioritization.
Scores could be used to match up with other Department
data in GIS, informing the project initiation and scoping
process.
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Priority Highway Freight Criteria
Commodity flow characteristics
» Originating, Terminating, Internal and Overhead
» Commodities have different flow characteristics and supply
chains
High truck volume on routes not designated Corridors 2030
Backbone or Connector.
Higher than average daily trucks per lane.
WisDOT’s Primary and Secondary Oversize/Overweight
Highway Freight Routes.
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Draft
Highway
Freight
Factor Priority
Scoring Map
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Information about Wisconsin’s top freight
commodities is contained in the Commodity Profiles.
Template maps showing analysis of Wisconsin
commodities, industry clusters and commodity flow.
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Maps showing
highways and
counties generating
the most Food Product
tonnage reveal
Commodity Flow
Corridors for further
study and analysis .
Originating Food Tons
by County:
Less than 100,000
100,000 to 500,000
500,000 to 1 million
1 million to 2 million
Over 2 million
Originating Food Tons
by Highway:
Less than 50,000
50,000 to 500,000
500,000 to 1.5 million
1.5 million to 3.5 million
Over 3.5 million
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Freight Network GIS Benefits
Dynamic trends can be quickly incorporated into
alternatives analyses – to make quality investment
decisions in real-time.
Analysis results are transferable to existing program
prioritization algorithms.
Planning and programming maps and data are easily
shared within WisDOT through the interactive corridor
maps application.
Interactive GIS database allows WisDOT to add new
features, like future data updates and analysis of change
over time.
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AASHTO SCOHT Resolution
SCOHT Committee and Specialized Carriers met in
Milwaukee July 2012.
Two charges of the Committee and themes coming out of the
meeting:
» Size and Weight Study requirements in MAP 21
» Permit condition harmonization
Resolution does not speak to Size and Weight. Only permit
operational conditions.
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AASHTO SCOHT Harmonization
Resolution
The volume of freight, including OSOW, is growing.
Trip time reliability is critical.
Unnecessary differences in OSOW permit requirements can result
in delays that increase cost or impair emergency response.
Harmonization can improve customer service, reduce cost, and
increase efficiency in government agencies.
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AASHTO SCOHT Resolution
Initial focus on harmonization of regulation in five areas:
» Escort requirements
» Warning flags, lights and signs
» Days and hours of operation
At the same time Resolution has been adopted by AASHTO
Regional SCOHT committees and work to harmonize within each
region is underway.
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