In California, Senate Bill 375 (SB 375, 2008) required each Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to develop a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS). This mandate required MPOs to set targets and develop strategies to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions within their region. To deliver effectively on this policy, there has been an amplified need for a workforce with both technical and functional skills.

In the context of MPOs, technical (or technological) skills include the use of intelligent transportation systems, new engineering practices, and modeling (using mathematical formulas to represent and predict the impact of multiple actions by many people on transportation or air quality, etc.). Functional skills include public outreach, communications, stakeholder engagement, and leadership.

This policy transition was made more difficult by rising retirement rates within the public sector and the growth of intelligent technologies being used in the workplace. By 2020, 16.5% to 20% of the entire workforce in the United States will be 65 or older and, in the transportation sector, this percentage is even higher. Many of the important technical and functional skills for the modern planning workforce require a facility with information technology, modeling software, social media, and outreach that were not typically developed in the past.

In this research, MPOs were approached through surveys and in-depth interviews, with questions on changes in their processes and workforce needs due to various factors, including the requirements of SB 375.

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This white paper documents obstacles preventing operational modernization at trade nodes and then recommends strategies to address those challenges in ways that address the State of California’s goals to improve freight efficiency, economic competitiveness, and environmental sustainability. All of the strategies outlined in this report are intended to inform next steps in the development of the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan. The first of those recommended strategies focuses on establishing energy independence at marine terminals through the use of energy microgrids. Using microgrid technology, marine terminals can become self-sustaining “energy islands” capable of independently generating their own energy supplies separate from legacy energy grids to maintain ongoing operations. In the event of natural or manmade disasters, marine terminals with energy grids could continue operations even if the main power grid in the region collapses. Additionally, marine terminals could sell excess electricity generated by their microgrids back to the main power grid in their respective region. Implementation of energy grids requires considerable financial investment as well as new partnerships with governmental and industry stakeholders. This white paper also explores ways to incentivize “buy-in” for energy grids into existing energy markets. In addition to addressing the importance of energy efficiency and independence at distribution nodes, this white paper also addresses the importance of improving truck access at distribution nodes in a manner that addresses the three interrelated goals outlined in Gov. Brown’s executive order: economic competitiveness, movement toward zero emissions, and operational efficiency. To promote improved truck access at distribution nodes, the research investigated the use of truck platooning, virtual container yards, design-based guidelines, and weigh-inmotion strategies to improve freight efficiency. Truck platooning involves a train of trucks traveling together at very close proximities to lower fuel costs and increase efficiency. Through the use of advanced wireless communication technologies, the second driver, third driver, and any subsequent drivers are able to brake at the same time as the first driver who controls the speed and pace of the train of trucks. Although further research, regulations, and technological advances are required for widespread implementation where any truck can join a convoy or train, potential benefit of this practice on diesel consumption, the environment, and the economy is significant. Likewise, the effect of virtual container yards (VCY) on freight efficiency holds the potential of introducing new efficiencies into the freight transportation network. Despite the many technological advances in freight, truckers continue to transport empty containers when they return or pick-up goods. Carrying empty containers in this manner wastes time and money for drivers and companies; it also increases carbon dioxide emissions and unnecessary fuel consumption. However, implementation of VCYs can eliminate this inefficiency. VCY leverages internet-based systems to locate empty containers in real-time and facilitates exchanges without the use of a physical container yard or distribution node.The design-based guidelines outlined in this paper address physical design elements at distribution nodes that either aid or impede freight. Aside from designing facilities for truck types, loads, ease of movement and maneuverability, freight routes, and parking and loading zones at distribution nodes, design-based guidelines should be taken into account for routes within metropolitan areas connecting distribution nodes. Inefficient truck movements caused by poorly designed distribution nodes can have a similar negative net effect on the movement of goods, the economy, and the environment. Implementing design-based-guidelines at truck nodes can not only promote modern efficiencies but also increase safety for all modes of transportation, maintain truck mobility and access, and reduce negative environmental impacts. To further ease movement between distribution nodes, this white paper also assesses the potential benefits of weigh-in-motion technologies. Traditionally, freight faces delays with the enforcement of weight limits. However, weigh in-motion technology allows truckers to meet regulations while en route to their destinations. This not only eliminates travel time and the costs associated with it, but also increases overall freight safety, reduces equipment and highway damage, and curbs harmful air emissions. This White Paper concludes with recommendations that inform next steps in the development of the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan.

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The importance of freight transportation networks and other critical supply chain considerations are all too often buried in the planning functions of local government. Efforts such as the National Freight Strategic Plan are addressing this trend but coordination between state, regional, and local leaders remains challenging. To establish a broad perspective on ways that state departments of transportation (DOT) are facilitating interregional and statewide freight planning efforts, this white paper begins with a comparative analysis of state DOT organizational charts to identify where the freight planning functions are housed. This analysis features a historical comparison of how current organizational charts differ compared to earlier pre-2009 versions of state DOT structures. Organizational structures and the internal freight priorities of state DOTs are critical, but so too are the modes of engagement used to gain comprehensive feedback from every stakeholder in the statewide supply chain. This outreach component includes strategic messaging, public information dissemination, public events, and in-person and online stakeholder engagement.To promote strategic statewide and interregional planning initiatives, public- and private-sector leaders must work together to address trends that have hindered such efforts for decades. Such trends include decentralized planning efforts, the deregulation of the transportation sector, a lack of coordination between local government leaders to plan for regional and statewide freight corridors, and failure to plan for inevitable conflicts between freight and commuter vehicles, transit operations as well as bicyclists and pedestrians. On the most basic level, remedies for all of these above challenges will only be developed if civic coalitions of leaders from the public sector and the private sector find ways to make freight efficiency a top priority in the planning and policy stages of projects. Such agents of change correctly understand that if operational and technological innovations are to achieve their fullest potentials, planning and policy efforts must not only account for historical best practices but also respond to projected increases in freight volume and related technological challenges and opportunities. To facilitate a process that drives statewide and interregional freight planning in California, this white paper identifies recommendations related to criteria that authors of the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan can use to benchmark the adoption of best practices. These best practices serve to elevate freight as a statewide priority within the organizational structure of state departments of transportation. This white paper also offers recommendations related to outreach best practices that leverage traditional in person meetings and technology-driven methods.

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In partnership with the Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium (SCRTTC), the California State University at Long Beach (CSULB) expanded potential audiences and offered program support for the Electric Vehicle Transit Bus High Voltage Safety Awareness class, which was previously developed under the National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST). CSULB expanded both the number of online offerings and the geographic reach by opening the class to transit agencies and campus fleet operators within the NCST network. The course was designed to enhance a technician's basic electrical skills and 2-circuit diagnosis, while teaching students how to work with a Digital Volt-Ohm Meter (DVOM). The effort supports the broader goal of building the workforce needed to support the transition to alternative energy and zero emission bus fleets.

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The transportation industry faces future workforce challenges, including a lack of trained personnel in fields such as engineering, construction management, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The public sector will be particularly hard hit because it faces the threat of attrition at senior levels as skilled workers retire or move to the private sector.

The issue of transportation workforce development has received attention at the national level. Research has been conducted through the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) on workforce needs of the public sector, although these focus exclusively on statewide agencies like DOTs. Little, if any, research has been done on the training and workforce needs at the regional level where Metropolitan Planning Agencies (MPOs), Councils of Government (COG), and transit agencies are engaged in both transportation planning and operations. In California, the workforce capacity of MPOs in particular was challenged by the 2008 passage of Senate Bill (SB) 375. This legislation uses the transportation planning process to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It requires MPOs, in partnership with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), to establish greenhouse gas emissions targets. MPOs are also required to include a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) in the regional transportation plan that demonstrates how a given region will meet established targets.

This project aims at understanding how fundamental changes from SB 375 and other legislative mandates have impacted MPOs from a workforce standpoint. Using online surveys, job scans, and in-depth interviews with members of COGs and MPOs in California, we determined the importance of several factors on workforce capacity. These factors include recruitment, available funding for professional development, curriculum content in college and university programs, and the role of in-service training. Results indicate that, for regional transportation planning agencies, there is an increased need for functional modeling expertise to comply with SB 375 mandates and the need to accommodate a shift toward activity-based modeling. The interview participants acknowledged that SB 375 increased responsibilities and changed processes for MPOs, including the need to consider the possible impacts to the agency of litigation over the SCS or the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The interviews also indicated that, MPOs hire personnel with diverse skill sets—ranging from engineering to modeling and public outreach—to deliver on SB 375 goals. The report seeks to document the evolving role of MPOs resulting from the kind of mandates enacted by SB 375 and the concurrent demand for both traditional skills sets relating to regional planning processes and those that respond to demands for planners to: (1) Optimize existing projects by making them “smarter” and further ensuring that these projects contribute to environmental sustainability; and (2) link transportation planning to land use patterns with the intention of diminishing vehicle miles travelled (VMTs) and associated pollutants.

These are new inextricable planning synergies that require planning professionals to marry traditional transportation planning skills with climate change assessment and abatement skills, referred to in this report as “sustainable transportation planning skills.” This expectation is tacitly set forth in SB 375 and is impacting employee hiring and retention, and employee salary needs, as well as the need for additional training and skill building. The study’s findings will contribute to the knowledge of workforce development needs as well as the potential for policy responses at the federal, state, and local level.

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The Caltrans Sustainable Freight Academy was conducted on March 29; April 5, 12, and 26; and May 3, 2022. The academy consisted of presentations from goods movement professionals and subject matter experts, from the U.S. State DOTs and public-and private organizations as well as those from international planning agencies. The final group presentation allows participants to respond to a capstone project using a web-based geospatial presentation platform. There were 70 participants that were divided into ten groups, and each group developed a presentation that calls for proposals for trade corridor funding.

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Geographic information systems (GIS) are an increasingly relevant tool being used in a variety of workforces. While education on GIS is well developed at the collegiate level and in workforce training programs, it is underutilized in K-12 settings. Research indicates that learning GIS can improve spatial and critical thinking skills in students, key elements for excelling in a variety of careers. Best practices indicate that teaching GIS through projects in a cross disciplinary setting (i.e., including math, science, and writing elements to projects), students may retain even more information about the subject matters and develop a greater interest in STEM and GIS related fields. Incorporating projects that are salient to student life such as themes of sustainability may increase student interest as well. Instructor fluency in GIS and mapping was found to be key to successful GIS education as well. When developing a GIS workshop, the authors recommend incorporating interdisciplinary projects that are salient to student interest, and pair it with a teacher educator workshop that highlights the benefits of using GIS in an educational setting. With the limited time of a single day workshop, focusing on gaining buy-in and explaining feasibility will be key to any successful workshop.

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This report presents results of the San Gabriel Valley Smart Shuttle (SGVSS) Field Operational Test (FOT). Results are drawn from a comprehensive evaluation of the FOT conducted over a three-year period. The SGVSS attempted to integrate services of three local municipal public transit operators and a regional fixed route operator via networked computer-assisted dispatching, automated vehicle location, and mobile data terminals. The integrated system was never fully deployed. We describe the project, its participants and the history of the project. The portions of the SGVSS that were deployed are evaluated, with special emphasis on one public transit operator. We conduct an institutional analysis of the FOT; institutional issues largely explain project outcomes. The FOT provides many insights on the challenges of service integration. The report concludes with lessons learned.

Critical to freight movement in Southern California are environmental plans at the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and Port of Long Beach (POLB). The combined port complex is the single largest fixed source of air pollution in the South Coast Air Basin. This white paper presents three case studies from the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), including brief analyses of their effects on freight movement in the region. This research also includes a case study of a private-sector, yet-to-be-built infrastructure project designed to support the faster movement of freight out of the San Pedro Bay Ports called the Southern California International Gateway (SCIG). The case studies are provided to elucidate how self-regulating agreements and operator-led programs contribute to regional environmental goals for freight operations. The findings indicate in part that stakeholder power relationships influence the ability to both develop environmental strategies and determine their outcomes. They also indicate that port-focused plans are more effective when their impact on the entire supply chain is considered. The research also helps to illustrate examples of unintended consequences of freight-related environmental measures which will prove useful to policymakers and operators alike.

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The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, together referred to as the San Pedro Bay Port Complex, are an important source of regional economic activity in southern California. However, the port complex is also the single largest fixed source of air pollution in the region. In response to pressure from regulatory agencies and local communities, the two ports developed a Clean Air Action Plan in 2006.

The research team assembled three case studies of programs implemented under the Clean Air Action Plan: the Technology Advancement Program, voluntary Vessel Speed Reduction programs, and the Clean Trucks Program. An additional case study featured a proposed private-sector infrastructure project: the Southern California International Gateway project. Each case study describes the program, stakeholders involved, barriers to implementation, and outcomes. These cases highlight the institutional challenges the ports face while working with a multitude of stakeholders and regulatory bodies to address both environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness. 

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