/2011/Northern MN and Northwest WI R Freight Plan - FINAL 12-01-09 1.jpg)
The Northern Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin Regional Freight Plan is a multimodal transportation planning effort that included highway (commercial vehicle operations), rail, waterway, air cargo, pipeline, and intermodal transportation. The plan was sponsored by MnDOT, MIC, ARDC and WisDOT. The study area for this plan is MnDOT Districts 1 & 2 and the 10 counties of northwest Wisconsin. This freight planning effort builds upon prior planning activities throughout the study area and is intended to increase the understanding of the demands from freight being placed on the regional transportation infrastructure. It provides a framework to document the current freight network, identify infrastructure needs, examine local and regional freight issues, accommodate specific freight movements, identify freight program improvements and provide policy and infrastructure recommendations.
You can view the plan HERE.
Specific tasks accomplished during this plan include the following
Creating a freight system inventory including map generation of freight modes (highways, rail, ports & marine routes, pipelines and air cargo)
Identifying key deficiencies in the freight transportation system such as capacity, infrastructure condition, level of service, access to markets, and intermodal needs.
Documenting regional freight issues and trends including key industries, logistic patterns, freight flows, regional economic trends, security issues and external markets for the region’s economy.
Conducted freight program analysis by examining impacts and opportunities in local regional and state freight programs.
Conducted stakeholder outreach by interviewing freight related businesses and holding a Freight Forum.
Developed a list of recommendations which included intermodal facility development, port improvements, heavy haul routes, designated tiered truck network, commercial corridors, truck size and weight uniformity and to undertake a number of small inexpensive projects.
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