Fonseca, Camila

This item pertains to Report 2023-02, “Best Types of Commodity Flow Data for Freight, Railroad, Ports and Waterways Studies,” published December 2022

The understanding of freight movement is critical to economic development and competitiveness and to make decisions regarding the transportation system. Despite the increased interest in freight planning and modeling, freight data are limited in availability and granularity, and the existing sources are incomplete or outdated. This research analyzes various types of public and proprietary freight databases to determine which are most helpful for planning, programming, and designing future infrastructure on the truck, rail, air, and waterway networks within Minnesota and surrounding states. There are some comprehensive multimodal freight databases that provide different levels of data granularity. These are typically complemented with other data sources that are specific to a transportation mode. We also interview stakeholders involved in freight planning in Minnesota to identify data gaps and capture current and future data needs. Important needs include (i) mode specific freight data, especially for waterways and ports and air freight; (ii) equity considerations in freight transportation; and (iii) understanding the relationship between freight transportation and climate change. Additional freight data are much needed overall to inform economic development and funding prioritization, as well as to evaluate and minimize supply chain disruptions.

Municipalities across Minnesota have turned to Complete Streets in an attempt to develop more usable roads for their residents. This report investigates how Complete Streets are reshaping one Minnesota community. In 2013; Richfield; a suburb of Minneapolis; enacted a particularly innovative Complete Streets policy. Known locally as "Richfield Sweet Streets;" the program has led to the reconstruction of several major roads across the city. Richfield's Sweet Streets program is unique in that it incorporates a modal hierarchy in which users are prioritized differently in road redesign and reconstruction. It relies on extensive community engagement; aiming to improve outcomes for individuals and the community as a whole. This research presents a baseline analysis of how Richfield's Sweet Streets projects are affecting the local community; while identifying a set of methods and measures for future research. The analysis draws on multiple sources of data to better understand the nature and consequences of Richfield's Sweet Streets for user experience and livability; economic vitality; transportation and safety; and individual and community health. The research aims to illustrate Richfield's innovative approach to transforming its transportation infrastructure while providing a roadmap for future analyses of the impacts of Richfield's Sweet Streets.

Highway construction; maintenance; and improvements are supported by federal; state; and local funding. States use a combination of state funding and federal dollars to invest in highways and to provide aid to local governments. In recent years; federal and state governments have had challenges keeping up with transportation needs. These challenges affect funding for roadways; including the share of funding going to local governments. However; there is limited research on the impact of changes in federal and state funding on local spending; particularly the share of local government spending on state and regional highway infrastructure. This research aims to fill that gap by assessing the contributions of local expenditures to state and regional transportation facilities in Minnesota. Our findings show that while cooperative agreements can be mutually beneficial for both local and state governments; they can also carry the risk of unexpected costs for local governments. Therefore; local governments should be aware of the risks of entering into cooperative agreements; particularly when state funding totals are capped. Effective communication during planning and construction can mitigate some of the risk of cost increases as well as uncertainties around cost coverage by MnDOT. The use of state contingency funds to reimburse local governments for unexpected trunk highway expenses could also provide additional financial security for local governments.