Truck platooning is emerging as a sustainable means of transporting goods and commodities to destinations. Platooning optimizes road space and contributes to reducing freight truck emissions. However, there has been limited research on freight truck platoon accessibility to the destination that is often necessary to understand the impact of routes on which platoon is deployed. This study develops an analytical formulation for platoon accessibility by considering the possibility of the detour of trucks forming a platoon. Analyses with four prominent interstates in California, CA, USA, show that accessibility with truck platooning on select lengths of the I-5 continues to increase for about an initial 165 miles, attains a maximum there, and starts to drop after. The other three freeways, I-10, I-405, and I-710, show a continuous increase in accessibility for their lengths and the number of ramps considered. The findings can have significant implications in determining the selection of freeway routes that could be regarded as facilitators for a truck platoon.

Investment in transportation infrastructure projects generates benefits, both direct and indirect. While emissions reductions, crash reductions, and travel time savings are prominent direct benefits, there are indirect benefits in the form of real estate enhancements that could pay off debt or loan incurred in the improvement of the infrastructure itself. Studies have shown that improvements associated with rail transportation (such as station upgrades) trigger an increase in the surrounding real estate values, increasing both the opportunity for monetary gains and, ultimately, property tax collections. There is plenty of available guidance that provides blueprints for benefits calculations for operational improvements in rail transportation. However, resources are quite limited in the analysis of benefits that accrue from the separation of railroad at-grade crossings. Understanding the impact of separation in a neighborhood with high employment or population could generate revenues through increased tax collections. In California, the research need is further amplified by a lack of guidance from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on at-grade crossing for separation based on revenue generated. There is a critical need to understand whether grade separation projects could impact neighboring real estate values that could potentially be used to fund such separations. With COVID-19, as current infrastructure spending in California is experiencing a reboot, an approach more oriented to benefits and costs for railroad at-grade separation should be explored. Thus, this research uses a robust benefits-to-cost analysis (BCA) to probe the economic impacts of railroad at-grade separation projects. The investigation is carried out across twelve railroad-highway at-grade crossings in California. These crossings are located at Francisquito Ave., Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station, Sassafras St., Palm St., Civic Center Dr., L St., Spring St. (North), J St., E St., H St., Parkmoor West, and Nursery Ave. The authors found that a majority of the selected at-grade crossings analyzed accrue high benefits-to-cost (BC) ratios from travel time savings, safety improvements, emissions reductions, and potential revenue generated if property taxes are collected and used to fund such separation projects. The analysis shows that with the estimated BC ratios, the railroad crossing at Nursery Ave. in Fremont, Palm St. in San Diego, and H St. in Chula Vista could be ideal candidates for separation. The methodology presented in this research could serve as a handy reference for decision-makers selecting one or more at-grade crossings for the separation considering economic outputs and costs.

Millions of dollars are involved in high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure construction and maintenance. Large-scale projects like HSR require funding from a variety of avenues beyond those available through public monies. Although HSR serves the general public’s mobility needs, any funds (whether State or Federal) flowing from the public exchequer usually undergo strict review and scrutiny. Funds from public agencies are always limited, making such traditional financing mechanisms unsustainable for fulfilling HSR’s long-term operational and maintenance cost needs—on top of initial costs involved in construction. Therefore, any sustainable means of financing HSR projects would always be welcome. This research presents an alternate revenue generation mechanism that could be sustainable for financing HSR’s construction, operation, and maintenance. The methodology involves determining key HSR stations, which, after development and improvement, could significantly add value to businesses and real estate growth. Any form of real estate taxes levied on properties surrounding such stations could substantially support the HSR project’s funding needs. In this research, a bi-objective optimization problem is posed in conjunction with a Pareto-optimal front framework to identify those key stations. With 28 California HSR stations used as an example, it was observed that the four proposed HSR stations in Fullerton, Millbrae-SFO, San Francisco Transbay Terminal, and San Diego would be excellent candidates for development. Their development could increase the economic vitality of surrounding businesses. The findings could serve as valuable information for California HSR authorities to focus on developing key stations that would generate an alternate funding source for an HSR project facing funding challenges.