Freight industry attitudes towards policies to reduce congestion

This paper presents an analysis of the perceptions held by for-hire and private trucking company logistics and operations managers about the impacts of congestion on their operations and the feasibility and effectiveness of actual and potential congestion mitigation policies. Responses to an extensive survey of nearly 1200 California-based or large national carriers are examined using confirmatory factor analysis. The method applied facilitates both the grouping of congestion relief policies into classes and the identification of characteristics of companies which lead them to favor one set of policies over others. This research comes at a time when California government leaders and transportation policy analysts are struggling with key resource allocation issues that will impact the short and long term future of goods movement in the state. To the greatest extent possible, insights of commercial vehicle operations users of the transportation network should be included in the policy analysis process.