Pioneer Valley Regional Freight Transportation Plan February 2020 Draft Prepared under the direction of: the Pioneer Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization Prepared by: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, 60 Congress Street, Springfield, MA 01104 Prepared in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration, and the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. The views and opinions of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Pioneer Valley Regional Freight Plan Draft Report ii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 VISION AND PURPOSE ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 MASSACHUSETTS FREIGHT PLAN ..................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Vision and Guiding Principles: ......................................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Massachusetts Requirements and Policy Goals ............................................................................. 5 1.2.3 Massachusetts Performance Goals: ................................................................................................ 6 1.3 REGIONAL LONG RANGE GOALS AND EMPHASIS AREAS ............................................................. 6 1.3.1 Regional Transportation Plan Goals: ............................................................................................... 6 1.3.2 Regional Long Range Plan Emphasis Areas, Needs, and Strategies ............................................ 7 1.4 STATEWIDE STRATEGIES ................................................................................................................... 9 1.4.1 State Freight Plan Immediate Strategies: ........................................................................................ 9 1.4.2 State Freight Plan Robust Strategies: ........................................................................................... 10 1.4.3 State Freight Plan Deferred Strategies: ......................................................................................... 10 1.4.4 State Freight Plan Hedging and Shaping Strategies: .................................................................... 10 2. REGIONAL FREIGHT NETWORK ........................................................................... 11 2.1 TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS ........................................................................................................ 13 2.1.1 Trucking ......................................................................................................................................... 15 2.1.2 Rail ................................................................................................................................................. 15 2.1.3 Yards Terminals ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.1.4 Services ......................................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 AIR FREIGHT ....................................................................................................................................... 17 2.3 CRITICAL FREIGHT CORRIDORS ...................................................................................................... 18 3. EXISTING CONDITIONS .......................................................................................... 21 3.1 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................................. 21 3.1.1 Trucking Routes ............................................................................................................................. 21 3.1.2 Major Industrial Areas in the Pioneer Valley Region ..................................................................... 21 3.1.2 Truck Counts ................................................................................................................................. 23 3.1.3 Bottlenecks to Large Vehicles. ...................................................................................................... 24 3.2 SAFETY DATA ...................................................................................................................................... 31 3.2.1 Commercial Vehicle Crashes ........................................................................................................ 32 3.2.1 Commercial Vehicle Crashes by Community ................................................................................ 36 3.2.2 Single Commercial Vehicle Crashes ............................................................................................. 38 3.2.3 Driver Contribution ......................................................................................................................... 39 3.2.4 Non-Motorized Crashes ................................................................................................................. 41 3.3 BRIDGES .............................................................................................................................................. 41 Pioneer Valley Regional Freight Plan Draft Report iii 3.4 FLOODING HAZARDS IMPACTING THE FREIGHT NETWORK ....................................................... 47 3.5 PARKING AND REST AREAS ............................................................................................................. 48 4. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................. 52 4.1 REGIONAL IMPACT OF PICKET FENCES STATE SCENARIO......................................................... 52 4.2 COMMODITY FLOW ............................................................................................................................ 53 4.2.1 Traded Regional Industry Clusters ................................................................................................ 53 4.3 COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY ......................................................... 56 4.3.1 Projects Spurring Regional Economic Development ..................................................................... 56 4.3.2 Major Industries ............................................................................................................................. 58 4.4 FREIGHT AND LOGISTICS OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 58 5. RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES .............................................................................. 62 5.1 INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS ............................................................................................... 62 5.2 OPERATION INNOVATIONS ............................................................................................................... 62 5.3 POLICIES .............................................................................................................................................. 62 5.4 POTENTIAL REGIONAL PROJECTS .................................................................................................. 64 5.5 FUTURE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................. 63 5.6 IMPLEMENTATION .............................................................................................................................. 66 6. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ........................................................................................ 69 7. APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 73 APPENDIX A: FREIGHT CONSULTATION ............................................................................................... 73 APPENDIX B: EMPLOYMENT BY TRADED CLUSTER ............................................................................ 73 APPENDIX C: TRAFFIC VOLUMES .......................................................................................................... 73 APPENDIX D: CRASH HISTORY ............................................................................................................... 73 Pioneer Valley Regional Freight Plan Draft Report iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 - Statewide and Regional Long Range Transportation Goals .................................................. 8 Table 2 - Regional Freight Needs .............................................................................................................. 8 Table 3 - Regional Freight Strategies ........................................................................................................ 9 Table 4 - Shipments by Domestic Mode Share (Within, From, and To) Massachusetts .................... 14 Table 5 - Rural Critical Freight Corridors in Pioneer Valley ................................................................. 20 Table 6 - Urban Critical Freight Corridors in Pioneer Valley ................................................................ 20 Table 7 - Percentage of Trucks on Interstates within the Pioneer Valley ..........................................