An Integrated Model to Study Environmental, Economic, and Energy Trade-offs in Intermodal Freight Transportation

The Geospatial Intermodal Freight Transportation (GIFT) system is an integrated model and tools to aid policy analysts and decision makers to understand the environmental, economic, and energy impacts of options for intermodal freight transportation. GIFT integrates multiple geospatial transportation networks (highway, railway, waterway) connected by intermodal transfer facilities (ports, railyards, truck terminals). Added to this network are models of the environmental, energy, and economic impacts of different types of vehicles (trucks, locomotives, vessels) traversing the network. GIFT also models the volumes of freight flowing between originations and destinations. This paper describes the architecture and use of the current GIFT system, new GIFT needs as policy analysts begin to study regional and corridor impacts of freight flow volumes, and GIFT system improvements to better meet those needs. These system improvements incorporate computer-aided scenario generation and tools for the policy analyst to select and analyze scenarios using advanced visualization and analysis techniques.