The Port of Savannah has experienced dramatic growth - 15 percent per year on average since 2002. This trend could necessitate expanding the roads and railroads leading to and from the seaport on Georgia's coast. To help guide these infrastructure decisions, researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed models that show how freight moves on roads and railroads from the Port of Savannah to the rest of the nation.

"We are developing models that can answer questions about the local and downstream impacts of growth in port operations, port infrastructure or local infrastructure on the larger system," said Michael Rodgers, a GTRI principal research scientist.

Rodgers is working on this project with GTRI principal research engineer James McMichael, civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Michael Hunter, and graduate students Christopher Puglisi, Thomas Wall, Franklin Gbologah and Lakshmi Peesapati.

With data from the Logistics Innovation Center and funding from GTRI's independent research and development program, the models aim to help transportation organizations plan for corresponding growth in rail and highway systems. The models can reveal bottlenecks in the transportation network and determine where money would best be spent to improve the transportation infrastructure.

"Transportation organizations and governments have very limited resources, so our models will tell them what types of improvements give the most bang for the buck," added Rodgers. "It is so much quicker, easier and less expensive to change the infrastructure in a computer than it is to change the infrastructure on the ground."

With the models, the researchers can examine many ‘what-if' scenarios - such as the impact of new technologies, a high-speed rail line, truck-only lanes or the development of a regional freight corridor. In addition to studying proposals from a technical perspective, the researchers are also investigating the environmental impact of the scenarios based on energy consumption and vehicle emissions.

Currently, the model includes the Port of Savannah, railways from Miami to Washington, D.C., and west to Chicago, and highways from Savannah west to Atlanta. The researchers plan to expand the model to include ports in Charleston, S.C.; Norfolk, Va., and Jacksonville, Fla., and highways throughout the southeastern United States.

"Our models may help determine improvements that will allow freight moving through the Port of Savannah to reach its final destination faster, which could make the port even more attractive to shippers and improve the economy in Georgia," explained McMichael.