The Value of Freight Accessibility: a Spatial Analysis in the Tampa Bay Region

With the recent growth in markets in the U.S., freight transportation systems have become more intricate, and are affected by the variety of static and dynamic elements associated with roadways. It is imperative to find effective ways to manage freight systems with smart transportation solutions so that governments can facilitate policy decisions to use their resources more efficiently. To make such concrete policy decisions for a specific study region, freight network, supply chain, and freight transportation trends should be studied carefully. As such, this study evaluates the accessibility of freight warehouses to intermodal freight facilities using Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based tools with a focus on Value of Time (VOT), spatial distributions of warehouses and intermodal freight facilities, and traffic characteristics. A Value of Freight Accessibility (VoFA) metric is developed for traffic analysis zones (TAZs) in the Tampa Bay region as a function of accessibility to warehouses, number of trucks, and VOT. Results indicate that there is a need for smart transport solutions such as dedicated truck-only lanes, and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) in order to help decrease the travel time needed for freight transportation and increase the freight accessibility. Findings are critical in terms of informing Florida transportation agencies to pinpoint freight bottleneck areas and enhance their freight transportation plans and policies to alleviate these bottlenecks.