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Freight Transportation Bookshelf

The following list is not meant to be a comprehensive library of freight resources, but rather a listing of selected documents that should be on every freight practitioner's bookshelf. The National Transportation Library provides access to a larger collection of freight transportation documents.

• Building Freight Professional Capacity in the 21st Century – Efficient freight movement is a fundamental underpinning of our nation's economic strength. Enabling transportation professionals to improve their skills and knowledge to fully integrate freight movement into our transportation system's development and operations is the objective of the Freight Professional Development (FPD) Program. This brochure describes many of the options available in the FPD Program.
• Data Sources Related to Freight Transportation – Provides links to major sources of national freight transportation data.
• Financing Freight Improvements – This Guidebook describes funding and financing tools available for freight investments. The Guidebook has been designed to provide information to the FHWA, states, MPOs, and other parties interested in investing in freight infrastructure.
• Freight Facts and Figures 2015 – A snapshot of the volume and value of freight flows in the United States, the physical network over which freight moves, the economic conditions that generate freight movements, the industry that carries freight, and the safety, energy, and environmental consequences of freight transportation.
• Freight Glossary and Acronyms – Provides definitions for key freight terms and a list of commonly used freight-related acronyms.
• Freight Story 2008 – A national perspective on freight transportation challenges and responses.
• Freight Technology Story – Provides information about the state of the art and the adoption of effective technologies by the freight industry and its customers.
• Integrating Freight into NEPA Analysis – This handbook is designed to provide information on freight transportation to: 1) professionals responsible for advancing transportation projects through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process analysis; and 2) public and private sector freight stakeholders interested in advancing freight transportation projects utilizing public sector highway funds that require NEPA analysis.
• "Keeping the Global Supply Chain Moving" [video and transcript]
• Quick Response Freight Manual Second Edition – This report provides background information on the freight transportation system and factors affecting freight demand, helps planners locate available data and freight-related forecasts compiled by others, shows how to apply this information in developing forecasts for specific facilities, and provides simple techniques and transferable parameters that can be used to develop freight vehicle trip tables.