Delivering the Goods

Freight Movement in the Bay Area

The movement of goods by truck, train, air or ship, both within the Bay Area and to points beyond, is vital to the Bay Area's economy. A goods movement study, launched in February 2003 by a consortium of interests including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Port of Oakland, Economic Development Alliance for Business (EDAB), the Bay Area Council (BAC) and others, is determining how goods can be moved more efficiently in the region and identifying a range of freight projects for inclusion in MTC's next Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), Transportation 2030, scheduled for adoption in early 2005.

Using a comprehensive and systematic approach, the study is examining the relationship of goods movement to the economy, land use patterns and transportation infrastructure. Its purpose is to guide MTC in allocating funds for transportation infrastructure, provide local decision-makers with economic impact information and provide MTC and its partners with a common platform for advocacy at the federal and state levels. Phase I, completed recently, identified key planning issues and strategies, while Phase II, due May 2004, consists of outreach to stakeholders, such as truck operators, warehouse managers and public sector transportation managers, to help identify specific programs, policies and projects.

"Raising awareness about goods movement is MTC's biggest issue," notes MTC's Planning Manager Doug Kimsey, who adds, "Goods movement is important for the region's economic well-being, and it uses many of the same transportation facilities as commuters and other travelers; we need to keep this in mind as we plan new facilities and operational strategies."

Reflecting MTC's new emphasis and the study's findings, a goods movement goal—"Efficient Freight Travel"—will be included in the RTP for the first time. Three supporting objectives will also be included that emphasize the need for public investment in the surface transportation system, capacity improvements at airports and seaports and public-private partnerships.

The Port of Oakland's Rick Wiederhorn thinks that the RTP's goods movement goal and projects are critically needed, especially the projects that improve highway access. "We have focused on seaside goods movement at the Port in the past. The new focus on landside goods movement is important to the Port's future operations."

Approximately $6.6 billion was spent on freight movement in 2000 by the Bay Area's goods-producing businesses, underscoring how important freight movement is to the region's economy. Industries that produce and ship goods account for 37% of the region's total industrial output and employ about 47% of its industrial workers.

In 2000, almost 40% of Bay Area goods, measured in tons, were moved by trucks intra-regionally, between origins and destinations within the region. By 2020 the amount of freight in the Bay Area is forecast to double and trucks will handle most of the new demand. On I-80/I-880 and US 101, the region's main truck freight corridors, congestion will become even more severe, the peak period will become longer and truck traffic/commuter traffic conflicts will grow in frequency.

Beyond the growing number of truck trips, trucks are also expected to travel longer distances, especially in the I-580 corridor. The reason is that market pressures are now encouraging residential uses and other high value uses to locate in the central Bayside corridor, forcing freight intensive uses—warehouse, distribution and industrial space—to areas with less expensive land, especially the northern San Joaquin Valley. The Smart Growth Vision for the Bay Area supports this trend by advocating compact residential development in the central Bayside corridor. Therefore trucks will travel longer distances on I-580 between the Bayside population concentration and the San Joaquin Valley and spend more time on the road, pushing up the cost of goods. The trips will also exacerbate regional air quality problems.

Congestion on I-580 is expected to worsen still more because I-580 will have to serve the growing demand for freight travel between the Bayside corridor and the long-haul transportation network—interstate highways such as I-5 and transcontinental railroads—that connects the Bay Area with the rest of the country.

Rail moves freight mainly between the Bay Area and the rest of California, the western US states and the Chicago gateway. The center of the Bay Area's rail system is in Oakland and the major intermodal facilities are in Richmond and Oakland. The major rail freight routes serving the Bay Area are the Union Pacific route to Roseville and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe route to Stockton. While some rail capacity is still available, limited right-of-way constrains opportunities to expand operations.

Demand for marine transport of containerized cargo, which is handled mainly at the Port of Oakland, is forecast to grow 5% annually and to rely increasingly on rail rather than trucks for transporting goods to and from the marine terminals. The Port of Oakland's new Joint Intermodal Terminal improves intermodal connections, but operations expansions will continue to be limited by extreme congestion on the highways that access the Port, I-880 and I-80.

Air freight transport to both domestic and international markets, which is especially important to high tech and perishable food businesses, is the smallest but fastest growing goods movement mode and is forecast to triple between 1998 and 2020. One of the region's major challenges will be to handle this enormous growth. Expanding both airport runway capacity and air cargo facilities will be necessary. However, San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which handles the majority of the region's air cargo, is constrained by lack of space for new or expanded facilities. In addition, the highways near the region's three major commercial cargo airports (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose), I-880 and US 101, are severely congested and create reliability problems for time-sensitive air cargo.

The study identified the following short- and long-term solutions for consideration:

• On key intra-regional and interregional truck freight routes (I-80, I-880, I-580 and US 101) expansion opportunities are very limited, so system management alternatives like ramp metering and Freeway Service Patrol tow trucks should be a priority. Also, truck-auto separations such as bypass routes, lanes for slow climbing trucks, and truck-only lanes should be pursued. Nighttime hours for warehouses, freight distribution centers and other industrial facilities would help shift truck freight movements to less congested times of day.
• To stem the new trend for industrial uses to locate in the Central Valley, the Smart Growth Strategy should be modified to encourage the location of critical goods movement facilities and other industrial uses in the central Bayside core. Cities in this subregion should consider creating "freight villages," and regional strategies should be developed that provide cities with financial incentives to adopt industrial land protection policies.
• Improvements to the rail routes and highways like I-580 that link the Bay Area with other parts of the country should be considered high priority. MTC should work with other regional agencies such as the Interregional Partnership to fund these improvements using the State's Interregional Transportation Improvement Program (ITIP). These projects should be included in the RTP so that they are eligible for new funding sources that become available.
• Flexible funding programs should be developed that would encourage public-private partnerships to invest in rail projects such as short haul lines that do not attract purely private investment.
• Both highway and local street connectors to international gateways, the airports and the ports, should be improved. The Bay Area needs to participate in multi-state organizations like the West Coast Corridor Coalition to pursue solutions to critical gateway problems. Coordinated regional programs are also needed to address signalization, roadway design and routing issues. In addition, intermodal connections to the international gateways are needed, such as short haul rail linking the San Joaquin Valley with the Port of Oakland and air cargo ferries linking the Peninsula, San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport.

The Goods Movement Study's next steps will be to refine the recommended strategies that require subregional and regional coordination and to develop recommendations on the highest priority policies and projects that could be included in the Transportation 2030 Plan.

This spring and summer, the Bay Area's nine county congestion management agencies (CMAs) will hold meetings to set priorities for local transportation projects, including goods movement projects, to be included in the Transportation 2030 Plan. Contact your local CMA for meeting dates, times and locations. A listing of the CMAs can be found on the MTC Website at http://www.mtc.ca.gov/T2030/cmas.htm

This fall, MTC will hold public meetings on the Draft Transportation 2030 Plan. For dates, times and locations, contact MTC's Public Information Office: 510.464.7787, info@mtc.ca.gov, http://www.mtc.ca.gov