Freight Facility Dispersion

One key metric pertaining to the development of freight land use from a regional view is the extent to which they distanced from the densest population centers, which also tend to be the centers of greatest economic activity. The further logistics infrastructure is located from their largest customers, the more miles must be driven by truck in order to reach their destination, which has negative impacts for air quality, safety, and profitability. For this analysis, the distance between freight facilities and the two urban cores were measured and analyzed over time. The results indicated that the phenomenon known as freight sprawl is occurring, wherein newer freight facilities are more likely to be developed in the periphery of the urbanized area. However, this was somewhat mitigated by the freight development cluster which surrounds the DFW airport and serves clients throughout both core urbanized areas.

Land Use Conflicts

One of the most important aspects of freight land use development, aside from the vital role it plays in facilitating the multimodal transportation of goods, is the extent to which it coexists positively with surrounding land uses. It is for this reason a random sample of the 2,422 freight facilities included in the study’s dataset was analyzed. This sample included 52 sites, and each was evaluated using a standardized scoring methodology to determine whether it was a Good Neighbor site, Area of Concern, or Land Use Conflict. Areas that contained a mixture of freight and other land uses but did not fall into any of the three aforementioned categories were designated as Mixed Freight Areas and will be monitored as development of these areas continue. This aspect of the study highlighted that although it is the common practice to collocate industrial properties in close proximity to one another, some types of freight land uses are able to locate near traditionally sensitive land uses (residences, schools, etc.) and avoid land use conflicts so long as proper Good Neighbor Strategies are implemented.