Project Summary
The San Pedro Bay Ports (SPBP) of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California represent one of the major container port complexes in the world, contributing very significantly to both Southern California and national economies. However, projected SPBP growth and the associated economic benefits are threatened by negative externalities of port operations such as increasing traffic congestion, air pollution, and adverse health impacts in the local community. Widespread concerns about these problems caused directly by freight movements have led to measures to mitigate traffic congestion and air quality in the SPBP area. However, forecast freight demand utilizing these strategies has largely been estimated by conventional four-step planning models, as used for passenger transportation. Such models cannot adequately capture the complex structure and behavior of freight movements, and advances in logistics and information technology. This research will explore and develop more behaviorally-oriented tour-based and activity-based models of SPBP drayage truck movements, using GPS data. Expected results include new and improved insights into the spatial and temporal operations of port trucks, contributions to the port-related component of urban freight modeling, as well as to the evaluation of traffic and environmental impacts of SPBP operating policies and air pollution mitigation strategies.