Memoir of the Urban Freight Transportation Committee
By Dr. Arun Chatterjee
Emeritus Committee Member
June 30, 2011
1970’s
The original name of the Transportation Research Board’s current Urban Freight Transportation Committee (AT025) was the Urban Goods Movement Committee when it was formed in 1975. The first Chairman of the committee was Dr. Arnim Meyburg, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. I joined the committee as a member in 1977, and the primary reason why Arnim invited me to join was that at that time I was involved with a study being done by the University of Tennessee researchers, which dealt with common problems of freight delivery by trucks in medium sized urban areas. The study was funded by the Federal Highway Administration.
Freight transportation planning in urban areas was not common at that time except in a few large urban areas. Another noteworthy study of that time dealt with freight delivery problems in the Garment District of New York City. During the same time period, a few research studies examined the feasibility of establishing freight consolidation terminals in urban areas to reduce truck traffic in downtown areas. Incorporating freight movements in urban travel demand modeling also was a topic of interest at that time.
1980’s
Beginning in 1981, the committee chairman was the late Richard Staley. Dick Staley was an economist. He had worked for the American Trucking Associations before he became a consultant. I helped Dick Staley as the Secretary of the committee during his tenure of six years after which I became the chairman of the committee for the next six years. During these 12 years of Dick Staley’s and my tenure, the committee experienced an increased participation by the private sector in committee activities. A representative of the United Parcel Service who was a member of our committee for a long time and provided considerable help was Siro DeGasperis.
During this time new federal guidelines enhanced the role of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in urban transportation planning and also emphasized transportation systems management (TSM). Our committee regularly sponsored sessions at TRB Annual Meetings and those included topics of interest to MPOs. Low-cost and easy-to-implement strategies to improve freight delivery were topics of interest at that time. Also of interest was land use planning for freight activities as well as curbside loading/unloading of delivery vehicles.
1990’s
A noteworthy accomplishment of one member of the committee, Lance Grenzeback, during this period was that one of his technical papers presented at the 1991 Annual meeting of TRB, received the Pyke Johnson Award for that year. The paper was recommended by our committee for the award, which is given annually for the outstanding paper published in the field of transportation systems planning and administration. The paper was titled “Urban Freeway Gridlock Study: Decreasing the Effects of Large Trucks on Peak-Period Urban Freeway Congestion”. Lance was the principal author, and the other co-authors were William Reilly, Paul Roberts, and Joseph Stowers. You would be interested to know that although our committee was related to freight transportation, we used to join the group of planning committees of TRB for mid-year meetings.
Following my term of six years, the committee was led by Noreen Roberts of CALTRANS (California Department of Transportation). During Noreen’s six-year tenure as chair, the scope of involvement of the committee was broadened.
2000’s
During the six-year term of Susie Lahsene of the Port of Portland, Oregon, the committee began to have more interaction with other freight related committees. We began to hold mid-year meetings with other freight committees and jointly organized technical sessions at TRB Annual Meetings. The interest of committee members now included such topics as economic development, and access to freight terminals including seaports and rail-truck intermodal terminals. Another issue that was examined by the committee seriously was how to get active participation of freight transportation companies such as trucking firms and railroad companies in the transportation planning process.
During the recent six years beginning in 2005, Joseph Bryan led the committee to a variety of new activities. Joe had worked for the trucking industry before working as a consultant. The interaction with other freight related committees continued during Joe’s tenure and he also was successful in getting increased private sector as well as international participation. The committee meetings during TRB Annual Meetings included excellent presentations from speakers from other countries.
2010’s
In April 2011 when Joe’s six-year term expired, Ted Dahlburg became the Chairman of the Committee. I have known Ted for many years because of his exemplary work for the MPO of the Philadelphia area. This is the first time we have had an MPO staff take the lead of our Urban Freight Committee.
Final Word
During my association with the committee, which covers 34 years continuously, I have observed some significant changes in committee activities, and also seen certain issues continue to persist. The committee always has been interested in opportunities for improving the efficiency of truck movement in urban areas. However, in the beginning the opportunities that were examined were primarily planning and traffic engineering oriented. Then, there was a change and the focus shifted to topics of broader scope involving economics, logistics and interface with other modes. It seems to me that our committee perhaps needs to do some internal investigation as to what types of topics and issues we should be focusing on in the near future. There are several other freight related committees dealing with a variety of subjects, and we must find our niche.
2011-2017 Brief Recap
By Mr. Ted Dahlburg
Committee Chair, 2011-2017
May 3, 2018
E-commerce, complete streets, global urbanization, the U.S. DOT FAST Act, and other factors thrust urban freight research into increased prominence during this period. As a result, the committee experienced strong interest and participation, a steady growth in the number of original research papers submitted for committee review, and broad support to organize numerous paper, poster, and jointly sponsored sessions and workshops (e.g., at Freight Day) at the TRB Annual Meeting.
Committee activities were organized into seven functional areas (Communications, Triennial Strategic Plan, Research, Sessions, Resources, Membership, and Recognition). Under this framework, the committee enjoyed excellent leadership and support from functional area coordinators, committee Members and Friends, committee officers, Emeritus members, the TRB Freight Systems Group, and TRB staff.
Research problem statements prepared by the committee during facilitated breakout sessions held during the TRB Annual Meeting were selected for funding by TRB and reflected various aspects of urban freight research, including:
- NCFRP 49: Understanding and Using New Data Sources to Address Urban and Metropolitan Freight Challenges
- NCHRP 08-106: Metropolitan Freight Transportation: Implementing Effective Strategies
- NCHRP 15-62: Design and Access Management Guidelines for Truck Routes
Additional committee highlights included preparing an urban freight bibliography, contributing to the American Planning Association Policy Guide on Freight, supporting the METRANS International Urban Freight Conferences and VREF Conferences on Urban Freight, updating the urban freight distribution piece in Wikipedia, and conducting a 2016 Midyear Committee Meeting in Philadelphia.
2017-2022 Brief Recap
By Dr. William (Bill) Eisele
Committee Chair, 2017-2022
March 1, 2023
A global pandemic, empty grocery shelves, supply chain issues and unprecedented growth in e-commerce headlined the news during this phase of the committee’s history. Committee interest and support has always been high, but the topical interest in goods movement was launched into the public consciousness because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers – everyone seemed to be discussing the importance of freight movement and supply chains, as evidence of new challenges impacted consumers daily. As we (hopefully) move out of the COVID-19 pandemic soon, a new normal will be in place because many have been rethinking where they live, and how and when they work. This cultural shift will have generational impacts on our transportation system and those who use it, including, of course, goods movement.
During this period, the committee experienced continued and robust growth in committee interest and activity, friends joining the committee, research paper submittals, problem statement submittals and funding, and support to sponsor events at the TRB Annual Meetings. These efforts contributed to the committee winning an unprecedented three Blue Ribbon Awards in a row (no Blue Ribbon Awards were given by TRB in 2021):
- Blue Ribbon Committee Award (in Renewal), 2022
- Blue Ribbon Committee Award (in Research), 2020
- Blue Ribbon Committee Honorable Mention (in Leadership), 2019
The 2020 Blue Ribbon Committee Award in Research was the result of successful research partnerships between the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and committee members and friends to advance urban freight research. At the time, the partnerships resulted in nearly $2 million in cooperative research program funding.
That same year, the committee completed a Triennial Strategic Plan with goals to: identify problems and opportunities; promote best practices; engage stakeholders; educate planners, elected officials and young professionals; and diversify collaboration.
The 2022 Blue Ribbon Committee Award in Renewal was awarded in response to the committee’s implementation of a successful model to attract and prepare the next generation of industry professionals and scholars in the field.
Other highlights during this time include:
- Maintaining and growing partnerships with the VREF Urban Freight Conference and the METRANS Freight Conference.
- Conducting annual committee meetings with special guests and research partners (e.g., industry, USPS, ASHTO, FHWA).
- Updating the Urban Freight Resource Guide.
- Increasing paper submittals to the annual meeting from 22 (2016) to over 50.
As we continue to adjust to our new way of life three-years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear our transportation landscape is forever changed. The implications of travel behavior changes and its impact on goods movement in the urban setting will be studied well into the future. The Urban Freight Transportation Committee is in a good place to be a partner in evaluating these challenges as we all navigate a new “normal” together.