Freight Movement

North Central Regional Freight Plan Update

North Central throughout the past year has developed a Regional Freight and Mobility Strategic Plan for the six-county region that established a set of strategic implementation recommendations that outlines the decision-making processes and targeted regional actions and policies for priority transportation investments.  The entire document is web based and can be located at:

https://tmp-map.s3.amazonaws.com/nc/v005/html/index.htm#home 

Summary of Regional Freight Inventory

• The region is traversed by nearly 6,600 miles linear miles of roadway. Over 2,500 miles of this network are owned by the Commonwealth, while an additional 350 miles are owned and maintained by other government agencies. Most of the region’s roadways (56%) are locally-owned

• The region’s roadway network supports an average of over 6.3 million daily vehicle miles of travel

• The Freight plan depicts the forecasted growth of truck volume in the North Central region from 2012-45 

• Using data from the Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS), the top 10 traffic bottlenecks in the North Central Pennsylvania region were identified. These traffic bottlenecks were then compared to weekday truck volumes and Tom Tom Travel Time Ratios to identify the bottlenecks with the most impact on truck traffic

• Shippers and receivers in the North Central Pennsylvania region are connected to the national rail network through a mix of regional short lines and a Class I carrier in Norfolk Southern (NS)

• Regionally, North Central Pennsylvania’s freight movement by rail has been heavily impacted by these changes in commodity demand. Decline in extractive industries, including coal, have caused facilities to close or change business focus along regional and short lines

• Air cargo service in the region is provided by two airports – Bradford and DuBois Regional Airports