We’re Really Asking for It: Using Surveys to Engage the Freight Community

Freight transportation concerns and issues have received increasing attention during the 1990s. Various public-sector agencies have attempted to identify locations where improvements are needed to facilitate freight movements. Needed improvements have been determined via modeling, technical data and estimates, reviews of plans and other documents, personal observations, and public input. Various observers think that information from these sources should be combined with more specific information from shippers and motor carriers moving freight. No definitive research has been conducted on how best to survey shippers and motor carriers. To establish the most effective means of obtaining views from the freight community about infrastructure problems on state highways and the supporting road network, the Oregon Department of Transportation sponsored the development of a method to conduct a shipper and carrier survey. Pilot instruments and methods were systematically administered to a stratified, random sample of Oregon freight shippers and motor carriers.