The Strategic Multimodal Analysis TASK 3: CHICAGO-NEW YORK CITY CORRIDOR ANALYSIS

The freight movements between and within urban areas are one of the fastest growing
components of travel. Forecasters predict freight volumes will increase 70 percent by 2020
relative to 1998. That growth will occur across a multi-modal transportation system that is
already experiencing congestion and reduced mobility.
The Strategic Multimodal Analysis (SMA) project applies a multimodal approach to assessing
and analyzing deficiencies in the freight transportation system and measuring the benefits of
potential options for addressing them. The SMA project will improve the understanding of the
impacts of freight bottlenecks to Interstate commerce and will develop a framework for
estimating the impacts of improvements to the nation’s multimodal transportation system. The
SMA project will focus on highway, rail and water options for freight movement.