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CSS Design Tactics

17. Freight

Incorporating CSS principles for freight specific improvement projects can be challenging for several reasons:

1. Many freight facilities are already built on private property and require high degrees of interconnection with other existing facilities and networks. As a result, there are limited opportunities to relocate these facilities and CSS principles must be adapted when making improvements to these facilities.
2. Second, some freight projects are planned and funded outside the state DOT or MPO process but affect the public-sector system and surrounding communities. In those cases, CSS issues may not arise until the permitting process and must be identified and incorporated during the project development process, possibly increasing costs and delays.
3. Finally, freight movements are dictated by market forces and changes in these forces (e.g., demand, fuel costs, handling costs, and merger activities) can result in changes in freight volumes at facilities and along corridors. Changes in shipper logistics patterns or decisions can also affect mode choice decisions. As a result, freight facilities previously dormant could witness a rapid increase in operations, causing CSS and other environmental issues that might not have existed before.

Despite these challenges, several states and MPOs have successfully incorporated CSS principles in freight improvement projects. By doing so, these states and MPOs have had an easier time overcoming potential environmental and other project development and implementation challenges.

Key Steps

• Understand the project context. Understanding the context of the proposed improvement (i.e., its location: its proximity to community, cultural, historic, or environmental resources, and its potential effects on those resources) is a critical component of CSS. Quantitative and qualitative methods can be used to describe the context of a proposed improvement. Quantitatively, environmental, transportation, and historical/cultural data can be used (within a GIS) to understand potential environmental and community implications of transportation improvements. Such data may have been collected, analyzed, and mapped as part of a freight/industry profile and can be used in this phase of the transportation planning process to identify potential effects. Qualitatively, engaging key freight, community, and environmental stakeholders throughout the planning and programming process can help you understand the context and potential implications of proposed improvements.
• Identify key freight and community stakeholders and engage them early in the process. Similar to addressing NEPA requirements for freight projects, identifying freight, environmental, and community stakeholders and engaging them early in the planning process is a key element of successful incorporation of CSS principles. Balancing community, environmental, and freight transportation goals early in the process can help build advocacy for freight improvement projects and other freight-related planning activities.

– From NCHRP Report 594 – Guidebook for Integrating Freight into Transportation Planning and Project Selection Processes