Exploratory Advanced Research . . . Next Generation Transportation Solutions

Reducing Freight Congestion

Developing a Freight Congestion Mitigation Program

Greater Kansas City region that can share 

transportation, logistics, and trade information 

between public and private sectors. It is also 

developing architecture to allow trucking 

companies to plan trips using real-time traffic and 

congestion information. 

C-TIP aims to tackle some of the deficiencies in 

information sharing and business practices that 

have led to a significant amount of empty trucks 

and repositioning movements throughout the 

region. These wasted trips generate little or no 

revenue for carriers and contribute to congestion 

and other issues. C-TIP utilizes the following 

features to address these problems:

•	 Adoption of a collaborative dispatch 

model—allows freight railroads and dray 

carriers to easily identify load matching 

opportunities.

•	 Integration of in-cab smart phone 

application—provides real-time traffic and 

routing information.

•	 Development of an open source architecture 

package—provides real-time driver location 

data and a wireless communications 

platform.

Integrating Systems

The primary goal of the SAIC project is to produce 

a system design and architecture document that 

will provide the basis for future deployment of an 

integrated freight congestion mitigation system. 

This study involves integrating systems that have 

never before been integrated into a collaborative 

transportation management solution. This will 

include systems from the private sector (e.g., rail 

terminal gate automation systems, freight 

electronic data interchange communications, and 

trucking company dispatch and communication 

systems) and public sector transportation 

management systems (e.g., arterial and highway 

real-time traffic information, real-time event and 

hazard information, and emergency operations 

information). The project is intended to be flexible, 

scalable, and repeatable. The results will be 

The Exploratory Advanced Research Program Fact Sheet

Increased Congestion

With international trade expected to increase at 

record levels over the next decade, severe 

delays near ports and congestion on 

metropolitan highways and arterials will 

ultimately lead to many other negative regional 

effects on air quality, noise, and safety in 

addition to the negative economic impact 

brought about by freight delays. Although 

freight movements via trucks represent only a 

small portion of total traffic volumes on the 

Nation’s highways, because of their size and 

performance characteristics they generally have 

significantly greater effects on congestion, road 

wear, and air quality compared to most vehicles.

Freight Information System

As part of an ongoing initiative to address freight 

congestion, FHWA is developing public-private 

partnerships and testing innovative solutions. An 

existing research project in place is the CrossTown Improvement Project (C-TIP) which is 

developing freight information systems in the 

The volume of freight moved in the United 

States has more than tripled over the past 

25 years and will continue to rise, according to 

the American Association of Port Authorities 

and the American Association of Railroads. 

Reducing freight and general traffic congestion 

is the goal of “Advanced Integration of Private 

Sector Freight Information with Public Sector 

Traffic Information to Reduce Metropolitan 

Congestion,” a Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA) Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) 

Program study awarded to Science Applications 

International Corporation (SAIC).
applicable to any region or metropolitan area 

where significant volumes of intermodal load 

transfers occur.

Deployment and Evaluation

Following a 4-month deployment period in Kansas 

City, an initial evaluation quantified regional time 

savings and emissions reductions with C-TIP. The 

initial evaluation report highlighted some of the 

many benefits of implementing C-TIP, including a 

carbon monoxide emissions reduction of 10 

percent and greenhouse gas reduction of 8 

percent.1

 To assess the scalability of the 

technology, the evaluation also included a 

theoretical Chicago C-TIP deployment. This larger 

scale analysis indicated travel time savings of 5 to 

10 percent per trip for cross-town dray movements 

and a 15-percent daily reduction in bobtail trucks. 

The evaluation, which began in October 2010, also 

assessed non-quantitative factors, such as 

software usability and overall viability in a 

commercial trucking environment. 

Improved Productivity and Efficiency

“This study is perfectly aligned with the ongoing 

EAR Program effort to develop innovative 

operations solutions to reduce traffic congestion,” 

says Randy Butler of FHWA’s Office of Freight 

Management and Operations. “The goal here is to 

revolutionize the conduct of intermodal freight 

transportation movements in metropolitan areas 

and provide the community with sufficient 

information to reduce unproductive truck trips 

and maximize the use of existing capacity.” Butler 

concludes, “The positive C-TIP experience we 

have had so far indicates an exciting opportunity 

for future FHWA research projects to be based 

more on emerging applications being developed 

by the private sector.”

1 Cross-town Improvement Project Evaluation Report,

Cambridge Systematics, Inc., Austin, TX, 2011

What Is the Exploratory 

Advanced Research Program?

FHWA’s Exploratory Advanced Research 

(EAR) Program focuses on long-term, 

high-risk research with a high payoff 

potential. The program addresses 

underlying gaps faced by applied 

highway research programs, anticipates 

emerging issues with national 

implications, and reflects broad 

transportation industry goals and 

objectives. 

To learn more about the EAR Program, 

visit the Exploratory Advanced Research 

Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov/

advancedresearch. The site features 

information on research solicitations, 

updates on ongoing research, links to 

published materials, summaries of past 

EAR Program events, and details on 

upcoming events. For more information, 

contact David Kuehn at FHWA, 202-493-

3414 (david.kuehn@dot.gov), or contact 

Terry Halkyard at FHWA, 202-493-3467 

(terry.halkyard@dot.gov).

Reducing Freight Congestion

Developing a Freight Congestion Mitigation Program

Publication No. 

FHWA-HRT-12-056

HRTM-30/6-12(1M)E

Learn More

For more information on this EAR Program 

project, contact Randy Butler, FHWA Office of 

Freight Management and Operations, at 202-

366-9215 (email: randy.butler@dot.gov).

Photo credit, page 1: 

© iStockphoto/

Konstantin Sutyagin