BACKGROUND 

Transportation planning practitioners and decision-makers struggle with issues and impacts arising from the growth of e-commerce. Research has been conducted on facility locations, freight sprawl, and first/last mile optimization. However, the traffic impacts across the entire system of urbanized areas require attention. The role of state departments of transportation (DOTs) and regional planning agencies in e-commerce is important, considering the span of multiple local communities across an urbanized area. 

Further, the rapidly evolving landscape of e-commerce is reshaping traditional freight dynamics within urbanized areas. State DOTs, regional planning agencies, and local communities observe this fast evolution. They can identify impacts anecdotally, but they lack organized knowledge to address the concerns of the public and elected officials or allow for e-commerce growth in plans or models. Research is needed to develop a state-of-the-industry reference that identifies a common e-commerce vocabulary and typologies to understand and identify traffic impacts from e-commerce facilities. 

OBJECTIVE 

The objective of this research is to develop a guide that provides transportation planners and decision-makers at state, regional, and local levels of government with knowledge of the e-commerce supply chain to assess and estimate traffic impacts and to make informed decisions that affect urbanized areas.  

Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks.

TASKS 

At a minimum, tasks should include:  

• A scan of practice and a literature review,
  
  
• Define the supply chain components to achieve a common vocabulary and identify typologies informed by:
  • Inputs and outputs from the facility, e.g., deliveries from the facility, supplying the facility, returns to the facility, customers picking up, and the workers required,
  • Expected number of vehicles by all modes and associated routing characteristics, and
• Facilities and vehicle types and characteristics for different supply chain components,
• Land use contexts in which facilities are built and vehicles are operated, e.g., from warehouses sending goods to residences accepting deliveries,
• Traffic generated by facility types by all modes,
• Resulting traffic externalities and infrastructure impacts by facility and vehicle type,
  
  
• Review of available data and estimation approaches to quantify e-commerce traffic impacts in urbanized areas,
  
  
• Develop a data opportunities catalog identifying (1) available data by type, (2) data to be collected and analyzed, (3) limitations and value of data, and (4) free or paid (range of costs), 
  
  
• Address state DOT or metropolitan planning organization responsibilities related to e-commerce traffic impacts such as:
• Functional classifications redesignations,
• Freight corridor designations,
• The development of freight plans,
• Data evaluation and procurement,
• Infrastructure capacity and safety planning, and
• Traffic externalities,
  
  
• Engage the community of practice to (1) consult with private industry stakeholders involved in e-commerce to verify e-commerce vocabulary and typologies developed, and (2) vet the research outcomes with transportation planning practitioners and decision-makers before preparation of the draft final report, and
  
  
• Develop a guide envisioned to be concise and easy to use. 

For the proposal, the research team should consider at least the following as final deliverables:

• The guide,
  
  
• A PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes that summarizes the project and distinctly illustrates for a broader audience how the research can be applied, and
  
  
• An Implementation Plan.
  

The final deliverables shall be reconsidered in the Updated Phase III research plan following the engagement task.

The sequencing of tasks to achieve the research objective and associated deliverables (such as technical memoranda or summary reports) shall be structured in the same cadence as quarterly progress report (QPR) submissions so that technical content can be reviewed at the same time as a QPR. The overall research plan must be organized into three phases. The first phase shall be utilized for background research that will inform the proposed second phase tasks. The third phase shall be reserved for the preparation of the final report and supplemental deliverables.  

The research team shall deliver an interim report and updated research plan at the end of Phases I and II. One month shall be reserved for review and NCHRP approval for each interim report. NCHRP approval is required to advance to the next phase. An in-person interim meeting shall follow Phase I, and a virtual interim meeting shall follow Phase II.

STATUS: Proposals have been received in response to the RFP. The project panel will meet to select a contractor to perform the work.