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Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)In response to the safety and security value judgment indicators, stakeholders suggested that thesefactors are largely unchanged, with some suggesting performance has gotten worse. The only reasonprovided for their answer on the safety and security questions was to suggest that traffic is causingsafety to get worse.Social and Environmental ImpactsTransportation officials found it difficult to comment on broad trends relating to social andenvironmental impacts, as these issues are addressed primarily through land use planning, orenvironmental processes. Additionally, none of the benchmarked state freight plans analyzedincluded social impacts performance measures and only a third of recently completed state freightplans included an environmental performance measure. Air quality nonattainment areas are usedas a proxy for environmental impacts, but transportation may not be the sole cause of air qualitynonattainment. Other sectors such as mining (for example, Hayden and Miami), agriculture and landdevelopment also impact air quality. Seven counties in Arizona are classified as nonattainment areasfor various pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.Overall PerformanceOutreach suggested that most users are largely satisfied with the performance of the transportationsystem. Yet, the system faces some specific performance issues which are relevant to this workingpaper, as revealed through consultations with freight transportation system stakeholders: Recurring congestion and bottlenecks in and around urban centers, particularly Phoenix:Peak congestion and associated bottlenecks were identified by virtually all freight sectors asproblematic, and as a barrier to transportation system performance and sectorcompetitiveness.Relevant objectives: System Efficiency and Reliability; System Mobility and MultimodalAccessibility Non-recurring congestion and bottlenecks: Although less frequently cited as an issue,several stakeholders – across most sector groups – noted non-recurring congestion and roadclosures as hindering the reliability of their transportation operations. Cited causes includedroad construction-related lane closures, crashes, and weather events, amongst others.Relevant objectives: System Efficiency and Reliability; System Mobility and MultimodalAccessibilityThe consultations echo the findings of both the quantitative and qualitative performance measures.The performance evaluation reveals that the freight system is performing well, but freightmovement experiences some level of recurring delays and non-recurring delays in both the urbanand rural areas of the state.As evidenced by the TTTI evaluation, only a small percentage of the 1,370 miles of KCC routes havea poor rating. The TPTI evaluation indicates a larger percentage of the system has a poor rating, aresult of the non-recurring delays impacting reliability. The segments experiencing the greatest x

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)planning time delays are in the rural areas of the state, where alternatives are limited, and detoursare relatively long.Coupling the value judgment indicators and performance measures, the overall freight system isperforming well, but stakeholders suggest a generally decreasing trend in system performancerelative to five years ago. Additionally, stakeholders often suggested issues on similar roadwaysthroughout the value judgment indicators.The results of the quantitative performance measures and the value judgment indicators will beused in subsequent phases of work to identify the locations where freight performance is poor, andhelp inform strategic solutions to address them.This Working Paper focuses on the performance of the roadway system given ADOT’s assetownership over highways and its limited ability to invest in performance of other modes. WorkingPaper 2 contains additional information on non-highway modes. xi

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)Acronyms / TTIU.S. DOTVMTANNUALIZED AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFICANNUALIZED AVERAGE DAILY TRUCK TRAFFICARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONAUTOMATIC TRAFFIC RECORDERSAMERICAN TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTECB RICHARDS ELLISCONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITYCOUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTSENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYFREIGHT ADVISORY COMMITTEEFEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATIONGEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMHIGHWAY PERFORMANCE MONITORING SYSTEMKEY COMMERCE CORRIDORSLOS ANGELES/LONG BEACHLONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLANMOVING AHEAD FOR PROGRESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY ACTMULTIMODAL PLANNING DIVISIONMILES PER HOURMETROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION100 MILLION VEHICLE MILES TRAVELEDTECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEETRUCK PLANNING TIME INDEXTRUCK TRAVEL TIME INDEXUNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONVEHICLE MILES OF TRAVEL xii

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation System1Arizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)IntroductionKey MessagesThe Arizona State Freight Plan will define immediate and long-rangeinvestment priorities for the state’s freight transportation system.This Working Paper is the output of Phase 5 of the Freight Plan. It provides anassessment of the conditions and performance of Arizona’s freighttransportation system and related implications for the competitiveness andgrowth of Arizona’s key freight sectors.Analysis conducted as part of Phase 5’s intermediate steps is used as the basisfor much of this Working Paper, including the identification of theperformance measures used to assess the performance of Arizona’s freighttransportation system. Performance measures are defined to support thePlan’s vision, goals, objectives, policies and strategies.Performance measures, supporting data and analytical approaches werepreviously reviewed and approved for use in the Freight Plan by both ADOTand the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). 1

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)Introduction: ContextArizona’s economic potential is supported by the state’s transportation infrastructure, whichconnects sources of production to markets. When transportation infrastructure and relatedservices are efficiently designed and competitively positioned, businesses benefit from lowertransport costs, faster and better transportation services and increased reliability. Thesetransportation benefits in turn contribute to competitiveness and growth of businesses and thebroader region.Effective freight planning and programming can help achieve competitiveness and growth. Yet,fiscal realities are such that Arizona‘s Department of Transportation (ADOT) cannot address alltransportation system needs and constraints. Rather, ADOT must be strategic in defining andprioritizing its investments and system improvements.To this end, ADOT’s Multimodal Planning Division (MPD), is developing Arizona’s State FreightPlan (Freight Plan, or Plan) which will provide strategic guidance to achieve its vision, goals andobjectives. The following vision, goals and objectives have been developed to guide the freightplanning process (Figure 1-1).Vision: Arizona’s freight transportation system enhanceseconomic competitiveness and quality growth througheffective system performance and management.Figure 1-1: Arizona State Freight Plan Goals and ObjectivesSource: CPCS 2

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)Project ObjectivesThe Freight Plan will define immediate and long-range freight investment priorities and policiesthat will generate the greatest return for Arizona’s economy, while also advancing other keytransportation system goals, including national goals outlined in the Moving Ahead for Progressin the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). It will identify freight transportation facilities in Arizona thatare critical to the State’s economic growth and give appropriate priority to investments in suchfacilities.The Freight Plan will ultimately provide Arizona with a guide for assessing and making soundinvestment and policy decisions that will yield outcomes consistent with the Freight Plan’svision, goals, and objectives, and notably, promote regional economic competitiveness andgrowth. The Freight Plan should also inform broader transportation system planning in Arizona,including future updates to the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).Freight Plan Development PhasesThe State Freight Plan is being developed in 11 phases, organized under three overarchingheadings, as summarized in Figure 1-2. The present Working Paper is the output of Phase 5.Figure 1-2: Phased Approach to the Development of Arizona’s State Freight Plan 3

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)Purpose of this Working PaperThis Working Paper presents an assessment of the the overall condition and performance ofArizona’s freight transportation system, with respect to the system performance objectives ofthe Freight Plan: 1.) Increase mobility and multimodal accessibility, 2.) Increase safety andsecurity, 3.) Increase system efficiency and reliability, and 4.) Minimize negative social andenvironmental impacts shown in Figure 1-3.Figure 1-3: Improve System Performance Goal and ObjectivesThe assessment of performance presented in this Working Paper uses the performancemeasures previously proposed and subsequently approved by the ADOT Project Manager andTechnical Advisory Committee (TAC). This includes a combination of quantifiable performancemetrics where feasible, failing which, qualitative value judgment indicators are used. ThisWorking Paper focuses on the performance of the roadway system, because Working Paper 2on transportation system assets already outlined the condition of all freight modes.Additionally, the performance of all modes was also assessed in Working Paper 2.This Working Paper highlights the implications of conditionand performance issues on the competitiveness and growthof Arizona’s key freight sectors. 4

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)The assessment of condition and performance informs the identification and prioritization offreight transportation system improvements in the context of the Freight Plan. The conditionand performance assessment also establishes a baseline to compare freight transportationsystem performance over time.This Working Paper is presented for review and comments by the ADOT Project Manager, the TACand the Freight Advisory Committee (FAC).MethodologyThis Working Paper is informed by a combination of data analysis and consultation with theoperators and asset owners of Arizona’s statewide multimodal freight system. Additionally, thisWorking Paper consolidates and builds upon the previous phases, especially the Phase 2Inventory of State Freight Transportation Assets and the Phase 3 Economic Context WorkingPaper outlining Arizona’s economy and key economic sectors.The draft performance measures, data, and approaches for the freight transportation systemevaluations were presented and submitted to ADOT and the TAC in an interim Phase 5document.LimitationsThis Working Paper is in many cases informed by data and input provided by third parties. CPCS hasverified this information to the extent possible through analysis and cross-checking with othersources but cannot guarantee the accuracy of data received from third parties. 5

Report Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation SystemArizona State Freight Plan(ADOT MPD 085-14)2Approach toPerformanceMeasuresKey MessagesThe quantitative performance measures approved for use in the Arizona StateFreight Plan focus on increasing transportation system performance.Additionally, to supplement the quantitative performance measures, theFreight Plan uses qualitative measures to assess variables with limited data.The Arizona State Freight Plan’s approach to performance measures complieswith the freight themes of MAP-21, but U.S. DOT has yet to provide specificguidance on freight performance measures. Therefore, there is uncertaintyregarding whether the proposed performance measures will match futureMAP-21 and FAST Act rulemakings.These measures, data, and approaches are applied to assess the performanceof Arizona’s freight transportation system. 6

Arizona State Freight PlanReport Performance of Arizona’s Freight Transportation System(ADOT MPD 085-14)Simple and Practical Approach to Performance MeasuresBy leveraging ADOT’s existing work on performance measures and recognizing that moreperformance measures do not necessarily produce better outcomes, this approach allows ADOTto measure and track fewer freight transportation system performance measures—with morefocus. These performance measures are practical to measure and use, provide appropriateproxies for the performance parameters that freight transportation system users care about(for example, transit time, logistics cost, reliability), and provide meaningful insight into theconditions and performance of Arizona’s freight transportation system.Linking Performance Measures to ObjectivesIncreasing transportation system performance is one of the goals of the Arizona State FreightPlan, which ultimately enables econo

ES 1-2: Value Judgment Indicators Informing Quantitative Performance Measures Freight Transportation System Objectives Quantitative Performance Measure Value Judgment Indicator Questions Increasing Mobility and Multimodal Accessibility Mobility: Truck Travel Time Index (TTTI) Mobility: How have freight travel times changed in the last five years?