intermodal
As many times as intermodal freight transportation
is discussed, one knows that the term intermodal is not a household
word. What then is an intermodal freight strategies study? For Kansas
City, it was multimodal—involving rail, truck, air, and water
freight movement. It was multijurisdictional and, consequently,
multigeographical—consisting of local cities and the regional
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and both the Missouri and
Kansas state transportation departments. The areas studied vary
from the regional ten counties to the 37 counties of the Business
Economic Area (BEA), from the state level and from the Midwest or
Central region level. It was a multiparticipatory process that utilized
an outreach program through newsletters, brochures and surveys,
and consisted of monthly meetings with an Inland Port/Intermodal
Task Force. It was multidisciplinary as our own team consists of
engineering, planning, economic, market research, and public relations
professionals. The conclusion of this study is not at an end but
a beginning. The conclusion recommends a process to continue the
work that has been already been started. This study and its previous
efforts have been a process. The process has taken time, money,
and the efforts of many people—it didn't happen overnight.
In the past five years market trends have had a distinct influence
on the trading relationships between countries, specifically with
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Also a resurgence
in rail freight transportation has occurred nationwide. At the same
time, state, regional, and local transportation agencies were attempting
to fully understand the implications of the Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). What was meant by
intermodal? How did it apply to the respective transportation agency?
And what information was available? Many agencies grapple with these
questions in preparing an Intermodal Management System (IMS) for
their jurisdiction. Another dimension that ISTEA added was the empowerment
of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in preparing an IMS
at the regional level and having the intermodal management system
built up from the local level. Often the most an MPO knows about
freight transportation is the percentage of trucks on major highways.
Yet the intermodal or multimodal components of ISTEA require that
MPOs deal with divergent issues such as bicycle and pedestrian issues
as well as freight mobility.
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