Annie Protopapas

Travel Characteristics of Urban Freight Vehicles and Their Effects on Emission Factors

This study collected local commercial vehicle data in Knox County, Tennessee, from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and two companies engaged in package pickup and delivery (PUD). Another urban commercial vehicle data set with a wider spectrum of freight companies was obtained from North Carolina for comparative analysis. The two data sets were analyzed to develop two sets of values for input parameters for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys MOBILE6 model. Statistical test permitted four aggregated vehicle usage classes to be formed. Two runs of MOBILE6 modeled the two commercial vehicle data sets in their entirety. Four additional runs modeled each vehicle usage class individually through the use of average speed and starts per day specific to the driving pattern of each class. Differences between the values of input parameters and emission factors based on data collected by this study and those based on the default values of MOBILE6 are discussed. Commercial vehicles examined by this study indicat...

New Approaches for Lock and Dam Maintenance Funding

A crisis is developing in the maintenance of lock and dam infrastructure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces a higher demand for building and maintaining its projects than available federal funding allows. This situation is raising basic questions about how the corps functions, including the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of project planning and implementation. The objective of this study was to explore the feasibility and potential advantages of transitioning the U.S. lock and dam system from the current approach of build and expand prescribed by the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 to an approach of repair and sustain. A two-part effort took place to fulfill this objective. The first part analyzed the state of the practice in policy, legislation, funding, planning, and project implementation and estimated the impacts of alternative approaches, both at the national level and to the individual shipper. The second part analyzed economic, funding, and financing issues; developed alternative revenue-generating scenarios; and compared case studies of waterway infrastructure projects in the United States and abroad to determine the potential for transitioning from the current funding approach to a bonding style (lump sum up front) approach. The study concluded that it would be possible to maintain, improve, and ensure the long-term viability of the U.S. inland waterway infrastructure through alternative approaches, but significant changes would be required in policies, funding mechanisms, programs, and procedures for project planning and implementation.

Integrating MTS Commerce Data with Multimodal Freight Transportation Performance Measures to Support MTS Maintenance Investment Decision Making

This report investigates the feasibility of evaluating potential navigation operation and maintenance projects on the Marine Transportation System (MTS) not only as they relate to waterborne commerce, but also in light of the landside freight connections as well. A network optimization model is described that maximizes the multimodal system capacity by choosing the navigation maintenance projects that will either fully accommodate expected demand or provide the greatest potential throughput within overall budget constraints, taking into account the origins and destinations of the commodities that move through a regional multimodal network. Five ports are selected for analysis: Duluth, Minnesota; Hampton Roads, Virginia; Huntington, West Virginia; Plaquemines, Louisiana; and Portland, Oregon.