The Exploratory Advanced Research Program

National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework Research Workshop

Workshop Summary Report - December 11, 2013

Introduction

On December 11, 2013, the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Freight Management and Operations and the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program hosted a 1–day workshop titled, "National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) Research."

During the workshop, participants discussed the state of the art, primary gaps in current capabilities, and strategies for addressing these gaps, particularly in the areas of multimodal freight networks, freight–demand modeling, and origin–destination (O–D) data disaggregation. The organizers designed the workshop to identify a set of topics for further research and to ultimately inform the development of the FAF version 4 (FAF⁴), scheduled for release in late 2015, and beyond.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

• Understand the nature and purpose of FAF.
• Outline a vision for the next generation of freight analysis.
• Agree on primary gaps in current capabilities.
• Create a game plan to address gaps.

Expert speakers presented historical background of the FAF, as well as perspectives on the state of the art in three specialized topics covered in focused sessions. The topic sessions included:

• O–D Generation.
• Multimodal Transportation Network Assignment.
• Multimodal Routable Network Development.

Following presentations on these three topics, the participants–including university, public, and private sector researchers– identified and discussed the most significant shortcomings in the current state of the art for national–level freight analysis and modeling and examined promising near– and long–term technical approaches.