Freight Transportation Surveys

Information on the movement of freight and its characteristics is essential to promoting economic efficiency and development. This information can take many forms, from classified traffic counts and travel time studies to comprehensive commodity flow and origin-destination surveys. Twelve different types of surveys are profiled in this report. Practices for each type are described and some are illustrated by case studies. Cross-cutting issues are presented---survey costs, the use of Intelligent Transportation System technologies, comparison of survey types, and the Commodity Flow Survey. Information was gathered through literature review and a survey of state departments of transportation and selected metropolitan planning organizations, marine and airport authorities, academics, and commercial freight data purveyors.