Freight Origin and Destination Study for Washington State Trucking: Characteristics and Trends

This paper reports on an extensive study of the origin, destination and other characteristics of trucks in the state of Washington conducted in 2003-2004, presenting findings and comparison to a similar study done in the state in 1994-1995. Over 24,000 interviews at 28 locations, over four seasons, were conducted in the survey, providing a comprehensive overview of freight movements in the state. This allowed in depth comparisons to the movements revealed in the earlier study when 28,000 truckers at the same 28 locations were interviewed. The paper will present the methodology of these surveys, surveys that to the authors’ knowledge are the first and only ones done in the nation that provided this intimate and detailed information on a statewide basis. Particular attention will be paid to the data management techniques utilized in this massive data base, since much of it is incorporated into a GIS Framework and modeling framework. Information types produced in the surveys include the carrier, truck type, unloaded truck weight, payload weight, commodity type, and the facility types at the origin and destinations. Detailed information on the highways and routes used by the drivers was also collected as an aid in identifying the major and minor freight corridors in and through Washington. Examples of sub analyses that have been done will be presented, along with determination of policy issues of congestion, mobility and investment needs that can be examined with these data sets. Comparison of intra state movement to out of state destination and origins provides interesting policy implications to funding at the state or Federal level. A short list of examples of recent data usage requests by the WSDOT, cities, ports, railroads and consulting firms will indicate how these data add value to the planning and investment decisions by private and public decision makers.