Project number: MT-1-1b

Funding source: US DOT

Contract number: DTRT13-G-UTC57

Funding amount: $100,000

Performance period: 1/1/2014- 9/30/2015

Project description

Metropolitan areas around the world are seeking to better manage freight flows and reduce negative impacts on local populations. A major challenge to better urban freight management is the lack of data; little is known about freight movements at the intra-metropolitan level. We develop the concept of a freight landscape: spatial patterns of freight activity. We use population and employment density quartiles to explain spatial patterns of development in four metropolitan areas in California: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego. We hypothesize that the freight landscape can be described using data on population, employment and transport system supply. We test the concept using network model data for the Los Angeles region and San Francisco region. We find that in both cases, our simple proxies have significant explanatory value, and hence may provide an effective means for approximating spatial patterns of freight activity.