Freight Movement
(Adapted from PennDOT’s Transportation and Land Use Toolkit)
The highways, arterials, local roadways and bridges that we use in our daily lives are also an invaluable component of a freight transportation network that moves raw materials and cargo throughout our region, across the United States, and abroad. Effective freight movement is critical to southwestern Pennsylvania’s economic competitiveness and the overall health of our regional transportation system. The freight transportation network is comprised of four transport modes – aviation, rail, waterways, and trucking. The network also relies upon intermodal transfer hubs – ports, airports, and terminals – to receive and process concentrated volumes of cargo and keep them moving towards their final destination.
This section highlights issues relating to the movement of goods into, out of, and around the Mon Valley, and identifies planning, zoning, development, and funding resources that can be leveraged to support, sustain, integrate, and modernize our local freight network and intermodal infrastructure.