BTS Webinar: About the Freight Analysis Framework and Why It Matter

BTS Webinar: About the Freight Analysis Framework and Why It Matters

Please join the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) in the first webinar of a three-part series focused on the Freight Analysis Framework (FAF). 

The webinar, “Inside the FAF4: Forecasting Origin-Destination (O-D) Freight Flows and Why It Matters,” will be held Wednesday, June 28, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Register online.

FAF, produced through a partnership between BTS and FHWA, integrates data from a variety of sources to create a comprehensive picture of freight movement among states and major metropolitan areas by all modes of transportation. Starting with data from the 2012 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) and international trade data from the Census Bureau, FAF incorporates data from agriculture, extraction, utility, construction, service, and other sectors.

FAF includes data on the amount and types of goods that move by land, sea and air between large metropolitan areas, states and regions. It is designed to provide information on national-level freight flows across the nation's transportation network. This information helps the public and private sectors at all levels better understand freight movement, and transportation planners use it to better target resources to improve operations or increase capacity. 

Using FAF, BTS and FHWA project that freight tons moving on the nation’s transportation network will grow 40 percent in the next three decades while the value of the freight will almost double, increasing by 92 percent.

 

 

During the webinar, Birat Pandey of FHWA will provide a brief overview of the FAF4 and its value for analyzing freight flows. Chester Ford of BTS will describe fundamentals of O-D database attributes. Steve Owens of IHS Markit will present on how the FAF’s O-D data are forecasted, highlight what assumptions are built into the forecast methodology, and explain how this information will benefit a FAF user.   

This webinar is aimed at practitioners with basic or no knowledge of the FAF but who would like to move to the next experience level. This webinar will also provide a useful foundation for future webinars in this three-part series.  

BTS and FHWA anticipate holding webinar two in fall 2017 on FAF truck network assignments and webinar three in winter 2017 on FAF4 application case studies. 

Here is the registration link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fhwa-webinar-inside-the-faf4-forecasting-origin-destination-o-d-freight-flows-and-why-it-matters-registration-35066436656

Please contact FAF@dot.gov with any questions.

See Behind the Numbers: Exploring Transportation Statistics for information about previous BTS webinars.