Mainstreaming Intermodal Freight into the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Process

The Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS), as a metropolitan planning organization, developed an approach to integrate intermodal freight transportation into regional plans and programs. This process began with the establishment of the Intermodal Advisory Task Force (IATF) in 1994 and led to a series of freight-oriented activities and products, including the identification of regionally significant facilities, analysis of improvement needs, and the intermodal component of the 2020 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for northeastern Illinois. Task Force membership includes public- and private-sector representatives working cooperatively to develop and direct a work plan to address goods movement and inter-modal freight issues and needs. The intermodal planning process involved significant preparatory work. The IATF established four working groups that directed specific tasks, including development of a geographic information system–based intermodal facilities inventory, an outreach for industry needs, a review of proposed intermodal improvements, identification and analysis of intermodal connections to the national highway system, and analysis to estimate the economic value of the industry to the region. Ultimately, six policy statements were developed and incorporated as system-level intermodal recommendations in the RTP. The process developed by CATS through the IATF has “mainstreamed” intermodal freight issues, analysis, and policies into the transportation plans and programs of northeastern Illinois. Although the scale of the intermodal and freight industry in Chicago is enormous, the lessons learned and the technical and institutional approaches developed through the IATF offer valuable insight and direction to other regions seeking to support their intermodal freight industry through the transportation planning process.