RECORD OF MEETING
FREIGHT TASK FORCE
DATE/TIME/PLACE: Monday, April 25, 1994; 2 PM;
NYSDOT Region 1, Albany
ATTENDANCE: Tom Magliocca, (Port), Steve Iachetta
(Airport), John Newman, John Lemmerman (NYSDOT Commercial Transport), Chungchin
Chen (CDRPC), Dick Carlson and Ted Thompson (NYSDOT), Gus Lapham (HVAA), Evan
Eisenhandler (CP Rail), Kristina Younger and Kathy Ophardt (CDTC)
DISCUSSION SUMMARY: Record of last meeting
unchanged.
Status Reports: 1) NYS Motor Truck Association letter and
response reviewed. Kristina to follow up
with contacts. 2) Saratoga Springs truck route
designation: Article reviewed and other examples
from around the region (Selkirk, Watervliet/Colonie, Round Lake) cited. Reiterated that identifying these areas of
residential/truck conflicts is part of overall work program. 3)
Highway Deficiency Mapping: New
data from NYSDOT Region 1 received -- needs to be reviewed. 4) Rail inventory: Discussion of difficulties with federal
databases and the cooperation from the railroads in updating the inventory. Should have a base map by the May
meeting. Influence of railroad
maintenance practices, addition of ballast, and weather on vertical clearances
were discussed. Double stack routes in
the region were noted. The potential
influence of new technologies on the need to address clearance issues was also
outlined.
Survey of Goods Movement: Revised draft
outline, mailing list, survey, and cover letter were included in mailout. Various wording changes to the survey and
cover letter were offered and accepted, as reflected in the final survey form. The mailing list was considered to be
representative and the cooperation in putting it together noted. It was decided to do a pretest of 50
"likely" respondents before sending out all 475 surveys. This will be done in time for a report back
to the May meeting to make any modifications.
Planning and Investment Principles and Performance
Measures: No changes to revised principles. Performance Measures: Revisions to the core measures regarding
Transportation Service recommended that would make them more generic and thus
more applicable to freight. The concept
of dependability, or vulnerability to disruption is important to goods movement
and should be captured somehow. The Task
Force liked the risk assessment concept introduced by the Transit Futures Task
Force and would like to see it incorporated into the core measures. An economic health indicator should be using
words - not numbers - and only used where a direct linkage between
transportation and the economy exists.
Supplemental Measures require further
discussion. Performance objectives were
briefly discussed. With the rewording of
the Transportation System Core Measures, more of them are relevant to goods
movement and should be included. A
discussion of mode shifts for freight focused on the need for there to be a
connection to a problem for such shifts to occur. More discussion is needed on objectives.
ACTION ITEMS:
* NEXT
MEETING: Monday, May 23, 2 - 5 PM, CDTC
* Agenda to
include rail deficiency mapping, pretest survey results, further discussion on
performance measures and performance objectives.
* John
Lemmerman to bring Intermodal Management System inventory back to the Task
Force when it is closer to completion.
* Railroad meeting with the bicycle advocates to discuss
overall "Rails-to-Trails" development in the Capital District scheduled
for 5/18.