Arizona freight network evaluation using decision support system

Since highway freight transportation is recognized as an important part of the overall transportation scenario, planning initiatives are needed at the state level to ensure adequacy and efficient performance of its freight transportation system. This freight planning is a complex phenomenon since both public and private sectors have a role to play in freight movements, and since commodity flow data is scarce and mostly disaggregated. Such a complex environment has focused planners’ attention on the use of computerized decision support systems. This paper reports briefly on a decision support system (DSS) that was developed for Arizona Department of Transportation and illustrates how it can be utilized in evaluating a highway network under different scenario conditions related to regional and multi-regional economic growth patterns. A traffic and safety analysis was carried out with the DSS for two alternative futures and results were compared with base year conditions. The results of analysis suggest that the DSS tool is sensitive enough to be applied in scenario planning for state-level freight transportation.