Abstract
Demands for long haul freight movements continue to grow due primarily to increasing international trade. This increase drives the need for major infrastructure improvements at the local, state and federal level. Although long haul freight mostly moves on the high mobility network of the interstate highway system, local road networks play an important role in providing efficient access to the high mobility network. This study applies a bi-level network design approach to solve the integrated network design problem. Network representations, the upper level and lower level problems, are adjusted to as appropriate for a freight network study. Our study presents a framework for integrated network improvement project selection. The study output can be used as supplemental information to traditional transportation planning tools such as benefit-cost analysis.