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In March 2008, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and contractor staff visited five Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) with proven track records of using travel model results to support the transportation planning process. A summary report documenting the findings of the visits is now available from the FHWA. The report summarizes how travel demand models and the resulting travel forecasts have been used in the regional planning process and how the travel demand models are used to address emerging issues. The report also summarizes the levels of support the regions have dedicated to the travel forecasting process and their plans for further enhancing the travel forecasting process. 
Commissioned by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) at the request of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, this study examined the long-term capacity expansion needs of the continental U.S. freight railroads. The study focused on 52,340 miles of primary rail freight corridors, which constitute about one-third of all continental U.S. rail freight miles, and are expected to absorb the bulk of the forecast traffic and nearly all of the investment to expand capacity. The final report provides the first nationwide approximation of the rail freight infrastructure improvements and investments needed to meet the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) projected demand for rail freight transportation in 2035.
Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 95: Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes, Chapter 17 - Transit-Oriented Development explores the transit-oriented development (TOD) land use strategy and its transportation impacts in terms of regional context, land use mix, and primary transit mode. This report is part of TCRP’s Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes Handbook series. The objective of the Handbook is to equip members of the transportation profession with a comprehensive, readily accessible, interpretive documentation of results and experience obtained across the United States and elsewhere.
This report, prepared for the USC Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, explores how the public interest can be protected when transportation concession agreements are executed. The report examines public concerns related to long-term concessions, reviews information that has been provided to decision-makers for recent concession deals, and highlights potential strategies to protect the public interest.
The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is a proposed multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways and utility right of ways. The Ports-to-Plains Corridor extends from the United States/Mexico border in Texas through Oklahoma and New Mexico to Denver, Colorado. In Texas, the Corridor spans more than 600 miles from Laredo to north of Amarillo. The Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) sponsored a case study to determine the impact the TTC may have on the Ports-to-Plains Corridor. The study revealed the TTC has the potential to enhance mobility and economic development along the Ports-to-Plains Corridor by providing new infrastructure capacity and options to existing and emerging industries, including cotton, ethanol and electricity. The TTC could also provide additional rail terminals and connectivity that could increase freight efficiency in the Ports-to-Plains Corridor.
The Florida DOT has experienced dramatic increases in highway construction costs over the past three years and has been forced to announce a number of project deferrals as a result. Cambridge Systematics has been assessing the Florida DOT's transportation capital project cost increases to determine which of the recent increases are short-term or cyclical and which may be long-term. The resulting report presents the key findings to date, provides a summary of the activities undertaken, and identifies a number of continuing actions that are designed to help the Florida DOT keep track of the current state and direction of the State's construction market, and enhance its planning and decision-making ability moving forward.
The final product of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-24(49), is a report describing future financing options to meet the nation’s highway and transit investment needs from now through 2017. The report describes the gap between current revenues and the levels of investment needed to maintain and improve the nation’s highway and transit systems over the next decade. The report outlines short- and longer-term revenue options, both conventional and innovative, to generate additional revenues and close the funding gap. The options examined by the study would help sustain the Federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) and enable all levels of government to respond to highway and transit system funding needs on a sustainable basis.
This 2007 Report is the sixth Annual Attainment Report on Transportation System Performance for the Maryland Department of Transportation (DOT). The purpose of this report is to evaluate the progress of the Maryland DOT, its five modal administrations, and the Maryland DOT’s sister agency the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA), in implementing the Maryland Transportation Plan (MTP) and the Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP). This report highlights MDOT’s performance and provides elected officials and the general public with information on the effectiveness of policies, programs, and investments in improving the State’s transportation services and facilities.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has published a Freight Financing Improvements Guidebook that describes funding and financing tools available for freight investments. The Guidebook has been designed to provide information to the FHWA, states, metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), and other parties interested in investing in freight infrastructure. The Guidebook is composed of four sections: 1) Funding and Financing Tools for Freight Investment, 2) Case Studies of Freight Financing, 3) References, and 4) Glossary of Terms.
As overall fuel efficiency of vehicles improves, the amount of state fuel tax collected may not be sufficient to maintain the condition and performance of the existing transportation system. To better understand how improved fuel efficiency might impact fuel tax revenues in Texas, CS developed a forecast of the Texas motor fleet fuel efficiency for the period of 2007 to 2031 and developed a model to determine how future state fuel tax revenues might be impacted.
The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Innovative Finance Quarterly newsletter features the latest information in Innovative Finance such as project highlights, SIB updates, legislative briefings, and more. Cambridge Systematics has been the managing editor of the newsletter since it was launched in 1996.
Commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce through the National Chamber Foundation, the Future Highway and Public Transportation Finance Study identifies funding mechanisms to meet national highway and transit investment needs. Phase I focuses on short-term funding for the period 2005 through 2015, starting with the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). It examines Federal options that would increase Federal Highway Trust Fund revenues, and options that could enable and stimulate greater investment by states, local government, and the private sector. Phase II will address long-term funding mechanisms, including alternatives to the current fuel tax-based system.
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The results of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 25-23(2) is a final report and user's guide for a prototype environmental information management software (EIMS) developed to help support environmental management for transportation and planning agencies. This software is designed to support agencies in environmental decision-making throughout the transportation process, from long-range planning through project development, construction, operations, and maintenance. The EIMS is intended to serve as one component of an agency's broader environmental management system (EMS).
Cambridge Systematics recently issued a report on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Government & Business Enterprises (GBE) Division that studied the potential impacts on the state’s transportation system resulting from the planned expansion of the Panama Canal. The report concluded that this expansion will have a significant effect on the state’s intermodal transportation system and accelerate growth at all of the state’s seaports. In the short term, these impacts will be felt most heavily in and around Houston, the state’s largest container port and a key trading partner for goods shipped via the Panama Canal. Overall, the study found Texas ports and their surrounding communities are actively preparing for the increased economic development opportunities that will arise from the Panama Canal’s expansion.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA), working in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), is developing a statewide model to support the evaluation of high-speed rail alternatives throughout the State of California. The proposed system, with bullet trains operating at speeds of up to 220 mph, would provide service from San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento in the north, through the Central Valley, to Los Angeles and San Diego in the south. This work will be used to develop a new Financing Plan for the CAHSRA and also will be used to support future planning activities of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Three draft reports which provide background to the model development and level of service assumptions are available:
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) has released a report that examines the development of an analytical tool box to evaluate the economic benefits and costs of highway investments. The Highway Economic Analysis Tool (HEAT), developed by a team led by Cambridge Systematics, combines seven automated and linked modules into a software package that MDT will operate in-house to help prioritize highway investment decisions.
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Blueprint Mississippi: A Business Approach to Mississippi’s Future (August 2004)
2010 and Beyond: A Vision of America’s Transportation Future (July 2004)
Do New Highways Attract Businesses? Case Study for North Country, New York (December 2003)
Florida New Cornerstone Economic Development Study (September 2003)
Economic Growth Effects of High-Speed Rail in California (July 2003)
Performance Measures for Small Communities (May 2003)
Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Study (April 2003)
Regional Economic Effects of the I-5 Corridor/Columbia River Crossing Transportation Choke Points (April 2003)
Macroeconomic Impacts of the Florida Department of Transportation Work Program (February 2003)
Freight-Rail Bottom Line Report (January 2003)
New Paradigms for Local Public Transportation – Research Results Digest (December 2002)
The I-69 Evansville-to-Indianapolis Study, Economic Impact Summary Report (September 2002)
Transportation Management System Master Plan (September 2002)
Small Communities Benefits: Innovative Traffic Management Practices in Small Communities (August 2002)
Freight Impacts on Ohio’s Roadway System (March 2002)
The Benefits of Public Transportation Synthesis: An Overview (March 2002)
Federal Lands Alternative Transportation Systems Study (August 2001)
New Paradigms for Local Public Transportation – Task 5 Report (2000)
Public Transportation and the Nation’s Economy: A Quantitative Analysis of Public Transportation’s Economic Impact (October 1999)
New Paradigms for Local Public Transportation – Task 1 Report (1999)
Quick Response Freight Manual (September 1996)
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