Freight Transport and Health: A Comprehensive Investigation of Planning and Public Participation within U.S. Host Communities.

Transportation-related air and noise pollution from heavy-duty freight engines is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, diabetes, nervous system and cognitive effects, hospital admissions, sleep disruption, and premature mortality. Research is needed to understand how residents in host communities nearby freight gateways (e.g., ports, borders) experience and counter these impacts. With an environmental justice framework, I used: 1) spatial analyses to quantitatively describe the demographic composition of U.S. freight host communities, and 2) institutional ethnography to qualitatively investigate public participation in freight land use deliberations. Quantitatively, I derived demographic descriptions of host communities by overlaying American Community Survey (2005-2009) tract-level data with buffered digitized images of freight gateways. At the 50 largest U.S. freight gateways, results from areally weighted analyses show that populations within 500 meters of a freight gateway have significantly higher proportions of persons of color, Hispanic ethnicity, without a high school diploma, and below the federal poverty level. Logistic regression models also compare 500-meter and 1-mile host communities to non-host communities, and overall results suggest that communities of color are disproportionately compromised by both transportation and industrial air pollution sources. Qualitatively, I synthesized data from interviews, content analysis, and participant observations at two distinct case sites: the proposed New International Trade Crossing in Detroit, Michigan and the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California. Interviewees identify catalysts, barriers, and opportunities for addressing freight’s local impacts through institutionally- and community-led strategies. Macroeconomic forces often override local concerns, whereby freight-related development decisions are made in advance or outside of public participation opportunities. Still, host communities may shift deliberations by exposing overlooked risks, legally challenging assessment procedures, proposing site or project alternatives, advocating adoption of sustainable technologies, equalizing mitigation opportunities, or codifying innovative governance structures. This study defines freight transport as an environmental justice issue. Results from quantitative analyses demonstrate patterns of exposure to well-documented freight-related health risks with implications for health equity. Qualitative inquiry enables deconstruction of theories and practices related to public participation and environmental assessment in freight host communities. Collectively, these findings inform cross-sector interventions to address global freight transport’s local threats to public health.PHDHealth Behavior & Health EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99894/1/nsampson_1.pd

Criticality of infrastructure networks under consideration of resilience-based maintenance strategies using the example of inland waterways

Transportation infrastructures as backbone of modern, globalized, and networked societies ensure flows of people and goods and thus sustain social and economic prosperity. Concurrently, more and more infrastructure construction assets are facing the problem of systematic obsolescence due to deficient structural conditions, maintenance backlogs, and a lack of or misallocation of resources for the construction and maintenance of infrastructure buildings. This problem construct necessitates a resilience-based maintenance strategy for the asset portfolio. In particular, inland navigation as a mode of transport features large transport volumes and few redundancies. Combined with its increasing importance due to its comparatively high environmental friendliness, a predestined, yet in the literature underrepresented research subject results. This dissertation aims to investigate essential factors of infrastructure management and thereby identify the potential for improvement in the complex construct of maintenance management and related areas. The emphasis is on enhancing the resilience of inland waterways as a complex System-of-Systems with all its interdependencies. Thus, a holistic risk and resilience assessment is essential and is underlined with the aspects infrastructure availability and business decisions (Study A, B, C and D) and stakeholder communication and risk analysis (Study E, F, G) which are addressed by seven studies published as companion articles. Study A deals with assessing the reliability of transport infrastructure networks as part of supply chains, highlighting the importance of available and thus maintained infrastructure assets for functioning supply chains. Study B aims to identify critical warning times before closures of transport infrastructure networks and therefore suggests a mixed-methods approach, making it possible to derive and evaluate critical thresholds. Study C examines the corresponding company decisions, i.e., decisions as reaction towards neglected maintenance of public transport infrastructure, which comprises risk coping strategies, examined by empirical investigations. Study D extends this problem observation by showing that companies could see incentives for outsourcing if they face a lack of access to available transport infrastructure. Hence, the study analyzes facility relocation problems in dependence on infrastructure availability. Study E heads toward stakeholder communication and risk analysis and examines the processes across stakeholders, using an approach of collaborative serious gaming, which simultaneously enhances situation awareness and communication among stakeholders. Study F provides the implementation of a systemic approach and its visualization as a GIS-based risk dashboard, shedding light on interdependencies among critical infrastructures and cascading effects. Study G closes with an examination of the evaluation of the potential of infrastructure funds. For this purpose, the study conducts an online survey to determine investors’ willingness to pay for various fund mechanisms, integrating the option of private coverage. Despite the geographic focus of the case studies on Germany, valuable insights can be gained for infrastructure management that can also apply to other countries. In addition to the case study findings, general recommendations for infrastructure owners are derived. As a result, it can be stated that it is essential that maintenance strategies have to be more resilience-based than traditional strategies, which are mainly based on fixed time intervals for maintenance. Moreover, the application of both serious gaming and GIS visualization can help to enhance situation awareness and thus the resilience of infrastructure systems. An essential finding for which this dissertation provides methodological approaches is that considering the local area’s attractiveness for business locations should receive more attention regarding investment decisions. Thereby a focus should be set on the realistic threat of relocations as response to deteriorating infrastructure conditions. Eventually, public debates should strengthen the knowledge about infrastructure and its funding, while deficits in alongside mechanisms in infrastructure funding must be encountered. Consequently, this dissertation provides insights into the potential of infrastructure management. Mainly, it offers the potential to improve the resilience of the waterway transportation system and address stakeholders accordingly

Paving the Way: Linking Southwest Detroit to Infrastructure Jobs

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110952/1/paving_the_way.pd

Best Practices for Performance Measurement in Transportation Operations and Maintenance

Public agencies benefit from measuring their performance as it helps to focus employee and organizational activities. State departments of transportation have become more performance-oriented over the past two decades and routinely collect data on highway safety, infrastructure condition, system operations, project delivery, winter maintenance, transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and customer service. While the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) use performance measures in a variety of areas, the agency wants to adopt new metrics related to mobility and the responsiveness of maintenance operations. This report documents performance measurement strategies used at state transportation agencies throughout the country and proposes new performance measures in these areas for KYTC. Among the performance measures put forward to the Cabinet, the following ones ranked most highly: (1) response times for complaints and potholes, (2) contract response time, (3) percentage of time and money spent on routine and emergency maintenance of drainage, guardrail, and cable median barriers, (4) response time to repair guardrail and cable median barriers, and (5) winter maintenance operations. As KYTC further integrates performance measures into its operations, it is critical to clearly communicate performance information to the public using tools such as online dashboards and reports

Developing a method to search for the causes of uncertainty in a nascent transport planning project

PhD ThesisThe transport planning decision process is, in theory, underpinned by rational analysis of travel behaviour and application of transport economics but project outcomes do not always follow the results of that analysis. Uncertainty is evident at all stages of the project development; as the concept emerges and as it moves through the subsequent assessment and decision processes. This research has investigated and demonstrated a method that identifies uncertainty focussing on the early stages of the project lifecycle and also provides an understanding of the factors that drive it. The method used a backcast scenario to elicit the causal relationships between elements of the planning and decision process in structured interviews with stakeholders. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to identify the active elements of the process, the causality between the elements was explored using the Cross Impact Matrix Model to evaluate their influences and dependencies and identify those driving uncertainty in the planning process. In this research, the Cross Impact Matrix Model was extended to analyse stakeholder opinions both individually and collectively, and investigation was undertaken into the parameter sensitivity of the analysis method. The case study was based on a disused railway where several studies into re-opening it have resulted in contradictory views on its mode of use and on the achievable benefits. In the scenario used in the case study, the rail service is re-instated for light rail use in conjunction with a new sustainable urban area anchored on an existing small village. The findings in this case study were that presence of strong leadership and collaboration between Local Authorities were the most influential determinants for progress and the prime causes of uncertainty were the economic environment, planning policies, and perceptions of passenger utility. Although these results emerged from a specific scenario, the methodology was demonstrated to be a powerful generic tool to identify the elements that create criticalities in planning for any scheme

Airports in cities and regions : research and practise ; 1st International Colloquium on Airports and Spatial Development, Karlsruhe, 9th - 10th July 2009

This book is a compilation of research and practise questioning the relationship between airports, regional developments and urban planning. It is structured in two parts, research and case studies, as well as practise and policy approaches. It answers questions like: how can airports be perceived as part of the urban structure? Which economic effects foster spatial development at airports? Which policy approaches exist to tackle the various conflicts in the airport-region relationship

Caution Ahead: Overdue Investments in New York's Aging Infrastructure

While Superstorm Sandy focused much-needed attention on key pieces of New York City's infrastructure, the city faces a number of other infrastructure vulnerabilities that have little to do with storm-preparedness -- from aging water mains and deteriorating roads to crumbling public schools. If left unchecked, they could wreak havoc on the city's economy and quality of life

Strategies, programs, and projects pertaining to policy on transport: research in selected European states, the United States, and Japan (short title: 'SmartBench') ; final report on Sweden

"The government in Sweden champions the international competitiveness of the country' s economy and industry. The structure and substance of transport research in Sweden is in constant flux. Because Sweden has its own automotive industry, extensive and cost-intensive research programs on vehicle development are conducted in cooperation with industry, the research community, and the government and are largely financed by the Swedish state. Setting priorities in transport research also seems to come easier to Sweden than to Germany, where authority is shared by the federal government, state governments, and their respective ministries in a way unknown in Sweden. On the whole, Sweden is one of the world's innovative leaders in both applied and basic research on transport, an assessment reflected in the ambitious objectives of the country' s transport policy. An outstanding example thereof is 'Vision Zero', Sweden's long-term goal of completely eliminating deaths due to accidents. Sweden, like other countries, is grappling with the impacts of mass motorization. In comparison to the German way of dealing with these problems, the Swedish approach seems to focus pragmatically more on environmental objectives and safety standards and devotes greater attention to the needs of disadvantaged road users. The social sciences, a traditional strength in Sweden, play a major role. Swedish transport research addresses the topics of safety, environment, and future technologies. The independent Swedish local authorities conduct their own environmentally ambitious transport projects, which are scientifically grounded political decisions promoting informed efforts to help the environment." (author's abstract)"Der schwedische Staat fördert massiv die Sicherung der internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der nationalen Wirtschaft und Industrie. Die Verkehrsforschung in Schweden befindet sich dementsprechend in einem permanenten strukturellen und thematischen Veränderungs- und Anpassungsprozess. Da Schweden ein Land mit einer eigenen Fahrzeugindustrie ist, werden umfangreiche und kostenintensive Forschungsprogramme zur Fahrzeugentwicklung in Kooperation von Industrie, Forschung und Staat aufgelegt und zum größeren Teil vom Staat finanziert. Die politische Steuerung der Akzentsetzungen in der Verkehrsforschung scheint leichter als hier zu Lande, da es eine Aufteilung von Kompetenzen zwischen dem Bund, den Ministerien und den Ländern in Schweden so nicht gibt. Insgesamt ist Schweden im internationalen Vergleich sowohl in der angewandten Verkehrsforschung als auch in der Grundlagenforschung innovativ. Dies korrespondiert nicht zuletzt mit den ambitionierten Zielen der Verkehrspolitik. Die 'Vision Zero', das langfristige Ziel keine Verkehrstoten mehr zu wollen, ist dabei ein herausragendes Leitbild. Auch Schweden hat die bekannten Probleme mit den Folgen der Massenmotorisierung. Im Unterschied aber zu Deutschland wirkt der Umgang mit diesen Problemen stärker und pragmatisch an Umweltzielen und Sicherheitsstandards ausgerichtet, wobei den Anforderungen schwächerer Verkehrsteilnehmer/innen mehr Beachtung geschenkt wird. Hier spielt die starke sozialwissenschaftliche Verkehrsforschung eine wichtige Rolle. Die Themen der Verkehrsforschung insgesamt sind Sicherheit, Umwelt und Zukunftstechnologien. Die unabhängigen schwedischen Kommunen führen eigene, umweltpolitisch ambitionierte Verkehrsprojekte durch, die die wissenschaftlichen Anstrengungen unterstützen und umgekehrt auch verkehrswissenschaftlich begründet werden." (Autorenreferat