Success Story: The Power of Freight Data
By Kelly Hanson and Victoria Farberov, Process Improvement & Change Management Interns
We live in a culture of “now”, where we expect things immediately. For example, when we order an Amazon Prime package we expect it to be delivered to our door within two days. This culture of “now” is so ingrained in our minds that we don’t question the process it takes for this to occur. We forget about the multimodal transportation systems that are needed to move our purchase from one location to another because the system is so reliable and dependable. But, operating these multimodal transportation systems is no easy task. According to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Freight Analysis Framework data, in 2016 there were over 420 million tons of products (valued at over $341 billion) moved throughout Colorado. This equates to around 75 pounds of products being moved every day for each Coloradan. These systems deliver products, supply businesses, create jobs, and support communities across Colorado.
As Colorado’s population and economy continue to grow, the demand for moving packages and products through the state will also continue to grow. These products will often require multiple modes of transportation, such as planes, trains, and trucks all working together during the supply chain process to make delivery successful. The Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) Freight Office is directly responsible for managing the state’s highway system, which transports the majority of the freight products in the state. This requires CDOT’s Freight Office to work closely with public and private partners to ensure that these systems are connected, safe, efficient, and reliable.
The CDOT Freight Office team consists of Craig Hurst - Manager, Michelle Scheuerman - Senior Transportation Advisor, Kathleen Collins - Transportation Planning Analyst, Katrina Williams - Permit Administrator, Kimberly Johnston - GIS Specialist/Permit Writer, Roberto Media - Project Management Support/Permit Writer, Craig Smith - Permit Writer/Construction Restriction Coordinator/ Data Support, and Esmel (Myles) Alexander - Permit Writer/Data Support.
To assist oversized and overweight vehicles with planning, the Freight Office wanted to create an interactive map that was easy and intuitive to use. The office reached out to ESRI, a geographical information systems (GIS) company, to help create a web-based mapping system. With this partnership, the Freight Office used their quantitative and qualitative data to develop an interactive mapping system that could be easily accessible and understood by any user. Currently, there are seven interactive maps; freight user and restriction map, oversize/overweight map, bridge weight limit map, vertical clearances map, pilot escort map, hazardous and nuclear routing map, and Longer Vehicle Combination (LVS) map. Each map provides instructions on how to use the map and its features, such as how to turn on and off layers, how to add geographic context to the map, and how to change the extent filters. Check out the interactive maps.
Example of the Freight Office's interactive maps
With this service, anyone can easily log onto this external site and have a large database with critical information for freight movement at their fingertips. For example, within a few clicks, one could plan their route through Colorado to ensure their trip is safe and saves time and money. If a user doesn’t have access to a computer, don't worry. There’s an app the user can use to assess all of this information.
So, how useful is freight data? This summer when Colorado faced unprecedented wildfires and needed help locating accessible roads for restoring plane fuel, the Freight Office relied on their database to create a map to show rerouting options to avoid the fires throughout the state. Similarly, an interactive map helped locate a restricting structure on I-25 for oversized and overweight vehicles that were causing significant reroutes. As a result, this structure was repaired which saved overweight and oversized vehicles time and money and helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The freight database is only two years old and has already proven to be a powerful and helpful tool to all our residents. The examples above highlight how the agile database is dynamic and capable of highlighting problems and solutions. As our state faces new challenges, we strive to have useful data at our fingertips so we can make informative and prompt responses.
Want to learn more about CDOT’s Freight Office? Check out the Freight Office’s website.