MPO

Freight

Broward County Urban Freight/Intermodal Mobility Study - Executive Summary PDF (2.02 mb) Broward County Urban Freight/Intermodal Mobility Study South Florida Regional Freight Plan 2010 Freight Goods Executive Summary 2002

The Broward MPO is striving with our partners at the Florida Department of Transportation District 4, Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and freight carriers to improve the movement of freight and goods. It is our common goal to have this movement maximizes its efficiency’ while limiting the impact of the freight and goods movement on the residents and visitors of Southeast Florida.
  

Freight and Goods Movement Planning

Freight and goods movement planning is a process of identifying, evaluating, and selecting needed projects and actions that will improve the movement of freights and goods. The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization has worked continuously over the last several years to develop and maintain a freight and goods movement planning program. This program was initiated in the mid-1990s with an industry outreach activity designed to identify key freight transportation issues.
 

Industry Outreach

The Freight and Goods Movement Industry Outreach Initiative was conducted in two phases. The first phase consisted of workshops with management-level representatives from the freight industry. Specific transportation issues emerged from these workshops, along with proposed projects that would immediately benefit the movement of goods in Broward County.

The second Phase of the Outreach Initiative involved surveying commercial truck drivers to gather information on the difficulties they encountered traveling on the roads in Broward County. Drivers also were presented with several questions on the need for a truck stop in Broward County, a need which was identified in the initial phase of the outreach.
 

Intermodal Freight Planning

Improving the efficient movement of freight and goods in Broward County also requires considering the transfers of freight and goods between the different modes of transportation---air, sea, rail, and road. These transfers between modes occur at intermodal facilities such as airports, seaports, freight rail terminals, and major trucks terminals.
 

Intermodal freight planning in Broward County considers:

• Connections between facilities, such as between the Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades;
• Roads and rails providing access to intermodal facilities, especially to the Airport and Port Everglades;
• Links between intermodal facilities and major highway and rail corridors, such as between the Airport and I-95;
• Intermodal transfer facilities;
• Mode crossing, such as highway-rail grade crossings.

These considerations and the results of the industry outreach initiative led to the development of a comprehensive freight and goods movement study. The Broward County Freight and Goods Movement Study (FGMS), completed in 2002, is identified as a component of the Broward County Long Range Transportation Plan. The FGMS developed a detailed freight profile for Broward County, including recognition of the importance of freight facilities located in Miami/Dade and Palm Beach Counties.
 

The freight transportation profile included:

• Freight volumes moving into, out, and through Broward County both by the number of trips and by tonnage, as well as the existing mode splits;
• Key freight infrastructure in the regional transportation system including major load centers, i.e., seaports, airports, rail yards as well as key highways and rail lines;
• The economic profile which defines the characteristics that drive freight transportation needs and help identify future bottlenecks.
• Freight and Goods Movement Study, Final Report is available for viewing.

Following the FGMS the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization undertook development of the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) intermodal plan, which was completed in 2003. This project expanded the work completed by the FGMS to look specifically at the use of information technology to improve the safety and mobility of freight operations.
 

The Intermodal ITS project included:

• Reviewing state of the art ITS applications for freight operations in the Nation, State, and County;
• Developing and evaluating alternatives and strategies for Broward County;
• Reaching consensus and fine tuning a recommended alternative consisting of a range of projects, dealing with the safety, security, reliability, and mobility of the transportation system.
• Broward County ITS Intermodal Plan, Final Report is available for viewing.

Subsequent to the completion of the ITS intermodal plan the Broward MPO took the next step in the freight program development, with a specific focus on Port Everglades, the largest single freight hub in Broward County. The Urban Freight/Intermodal Mobility Study, conducted in cooperation with Port Everglades, was completed in 2007.

See below for reports and more details:

• ITS Intermodal Plan
• ITS Needs and Deficiencies Report
• Potential ITS Solutions Report

The Urban Freight/Intermodal Mobility Study included:

• Summary of key regional, state and national freight initiatives that impact the Broward County transportation system.
• Identification and description of freight flows impacting Broward County including the local, regional, state, national and international trends.
• Identification and evaluation of corridors serving Port Everglades, including analysis of available port traffic data as well as a truck driver survey completed at Port Everglades and the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) intermodal ramp.
• A list of recommendations for freight landside access improvements to support Port Everglades, including infrastructure and operational projects for roadway and railway connections.
• Urban Freight/Intermodal Mobility Study, is available for viewing

Currently the Broward MPO is undertaking the production of a Regional Freight Plan in cooperation with the Florida Department of Transportation, District 4, and the MPOs to the north and south of Broward County, i.e. Palm Beach and Miami-Dade.
 

Coordination

Effective freight and goods movement and intermodal freight planning involves the coordination and collaboration of many partners. Transportation Planning Division staff members serve on the DOT Freight and Goods Movement Committee; the Miami-Dade Freight Transportation Advisory Committee (FTAC); several of the Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) development committees; the South Florida Metropolitan Area Continuing Florida Aviation System Planning Process (CFASPP) Steering Committee; and the South Florida ITS Coalition.

For more information about the Broward MPO’s freight planning efforts please contact Paul Flavien at flavienp@browardmpo.org or Ricardo Gutierrez, at gutierrezr@browardmpo.org both can be reached at 954-876-0033.