Conference Proceedings 26 - Transportation Research Board

142 PERFORMANCE MEASURES TO IMPROVE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AND AGENCY OPERATIONSwith some astounding numbers. Overall it runs in therange of 26 to 30 percent.We then developed a list of the intermodal yardsthat are processing in northeast Illinois. We took theacreage and the throughput to get an average for thenumber of containers or trailers per year by acreage.We made some projections and calculations and thenannounced that if the region continued to performthis service at this level, with the projections thatsome people were making—and we made very conservativeones—then another 4,200 acres would beneeded by 2020 for intermodal handling to get to avolume that is something like 2 1 /2 times what it isnow. This news shook everybody up. It was a breakthroughin the use of numbers. We were among thefirst people to say that we needed to have a projectionof some kind. You do not have to say it is absolutelyright. However, as it turns out, for the past3 years at least, our projections have been fairlyclose. You have to make certain assumptions aboutholding the technology constant.The private sector said that if these governmentguys can figure it out, we should perhaps take anotherlook ourselves. As a result, as least partiallyattributed to this analysis, a mammoth intermodaldevelopment on part of the acreage that used to bethe Joliet Arsenal will be developed by the privatesector. Centerpointe Properties will develop it, andthe Burlington North and Santa Fe Railway Companywill be the principal rail tenant—the sole tenantat this point. They will develop about 12 millionsquare feet of peripheral warehousing and assortedservice space.We always should be pushing the envelope. It requiresa willingness to confront our own contribution.We are a metropolitan planning organization. Itis our responsibility to do this. I do not believe thatfreight planning is ever going to come easily because,as somebody else said earlier on, we are largely inthe people-planning business, and we have been doingthat for 25 years.GOODS MOVEMENT IN CALIFORNIADilara RodriguezIwill be talking about a strategy that we haveadopted for goods movement. Goods movementis extremely important for California. It provides$40 billion/year to national economic output, morethan 1 million jobs, and more than $8 billion/year tofederal taxes and customs duties. A total of $640 billionin California commodities was moved in 1993,and more than 60 percent was moved within thestate.California is a major port and a major source forthe economy of this nation. Therefore, for the stateto be able to perform and continue growing as it isprojected to grow, the system has to be improved.We are dealing with issues of accessibility, reliability,and safe performance. In our designs and planning,we are constantly working with the trucking industry,the rail industry, and the shipping industry. Wecannot talk about one mode and not the other. Althoughwe are a California Highway Department, wedo not talk about only the highway. We look at allthe modes, so that we can build a strong partnership.I would like to speak about an exciting project thatCalifornia is participating in with seven other states:the I-10 corridor. We are looking to turn the entireI-10 highway from California to Florida into a nationwideautomated truck facility. What do we meanby a nationwide automated truck facility? The wholeconcept is this: if we are looking at improving theeconomy and looking at being able to grow and keeptraffic growing without compromising safety, thenmaybe we need to look at a way of moving goodsefficiently, while keeping the system safe and efficientfor the daily users.We are really in the beginning phase. Next weekwill be the first time that representatives from alleight states will sit and talk together. Texas is leadingthe effort. Goods movement is extremely importantto us, and I-10 is the major east-west system. Mostof the previous talk has been about north-south corridorsbecause of the North American Free Trade Act(NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada. The logical flowis north-south. But we also have the east-west system.We have the major ports in Los Angeles with goodsthat go through the other states. Other sources oftraffic come from the Florida side, and Texas is amajor player.How can we work together as a team and look atchoosing technology? The speaker from the truckingindustry shared many exciting things that the truck-