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THE COUNTY’S TRANSPORTATION NETWORK
PLANNING ISSUE
Good freight movement is
directly tied to job creation
and retention, but traffic
congestion can impede truck
movement and slow the flow
of goods into and throughout
the region. Accommodating
freight operations is vital to
ensuring the impact to jobs
and job growth.
What’s New
•
Freight rail traffic is likely to increase significantly in
the near future, as shipments of crude oil from North
Dakota move through the county to refineries along
the Delaware River in Delaware County. New rock
fracturing technology made available in 2008 has
created a boom in domestic crude oil production from
the Bakken formation in western North Dakota.
Multiple Philadelphia-area fuel producers, like the
Trainer refinery in Delaware County, plan to ship this
oil in via rail, on Norfolk Southern’s Harrisburg Line,
which runs parallel to US 422.
•
Truck traffic continues to increase on county
roadways, driven by increasing demand for goods and
manufactured products.
Vehicles
Transit
Pedestrian Mobility
Bicycle Mobility
Aviation
Freight
Freight
The freight or “goods movement” supply chain is a global
network of interconnected corridors along which raw
materials and finished goods are moved from their points
of origin to markets and on to consumers for use or
consumption. The supply chain depends upon multiple
transportation modes that includes pipelines, ships,
planes, trains, and trucks. Three of these modes are the
ways freight is moved through Montgomery County.
Trucks are the predominant mode for moving freight or
goods in the county. The DVRPC simulation model
estimates that trucks drive an average of 1.6 million
miles on Montgomery County roadways every day.
Single-unit trucks (where the cab and cargo area are part
of the same frame) with three or more axles account for
more of those miles than smaller trucks; 54% of all truck
trips are taken on arterial highways. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns, there
were 168 for-hire truck transportation establishments in
the county in 2010, which employed a total of 3,142
workers and had an annual payroll of $137,423,000.
In
addition to the for-hire trucking businesses, separate
truck fleets are operated as part of other businesses like
quarries or food processing.
On the rail side, there are 136 miles of freight railroad
track in the county, more than any other county in the
region. This includes rail owned by SEPTA, but shared by
freight carriers during overnight hours. The major Class I
carrier operating in the county is Norfolk Southern, which
owns the double-track line parallel to US 422 called the
Harrisburg Line. It is cleared for double stacking
(increasing the capacity of a freight rail line by stacking
two twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) freight containers
one on top of the other) and is also used by shippers CSX
and Canadian Pacific. Local “short line” railroad service
is provided along several other tracks by East Penn,
Pennsylvania Northeastern, and Upper Merion and
Plymouth railroads.
Although they are the least visible mode of transportation,
pipelines do have a presence in Montgomery County.
There are 188 miles of pipeline in Montgomery County
that transport gasoline, oil, and natural gas. Pipelines
generally fall into one of three categories when
designating their use: gathering, transportation, and
distribution. Gathering and distribution pipelines both use
an interconnected series of short, narrow pipelines.
Gathering pipelines move product from nearby tanks or
wells to a processing facility, while distribution pipelines
move products to homes, businesses, tanks, and storage
facilities. Transportation pipelines are long, wide pipes
that are used to move products between cities and across
countries or continents.
Freight Activity Nodes
The map illustrates areas of the county where the highest
concentrations of freight activity are located. These were
determined by identifying concentrations of freight-
related land uses like manufacturing and their proximity
to expressway on-ramps and/or freight rail lines. Once
identified, Census data at the block group level was used
to determine the number of freight-related jobs in those
clusters. Any cluster with fewer than 1,000 freight-
related jobs was eliminated. Areas with 1,000 to 2,500
freight-related jobs were identified as a small node; areas
