Freight

Freight transportation influences every aspect of our daily lives and keeps our businesses and industries competitive in the local and global economy. While Hampton Roads and the Commonwealth of Virginia have established an integrated multimodal freight system that facilitates the efficient, reliable, and safe movement of freight, our challenge will be to maintain and expand the system to meet the needs of tomorrow.

All metropolitan areas are impacted by the movement of freight to some degree; the Hampton Roads region, however, experiences it much more intensely than many regions. Hampton Roads' Mid-Atlantic location makes it an ideal base from which to serve the large consumer and industrial markets located along the United States East Coast. According to the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, Hampton Roads is located within 40% of the U.S. population and has access to approximately 128 million consumers within one day's drive.

Hampton Roads is a multimodal region that includes ports, airports, rail, private trucking, shipping, and warehouse distribution facilities, as well as a network of road and rail corridors for the delivery of freight, goods, and services. Hampton Roads is home to the Port of Virginia's deep water marine terminals – Norfolk International Terminals (NIT), Virginia International Gateway (VIG), Newport News Marine Terminal (NNMT), and Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT).

The newest generation of containerships (over 14,000 TEU) began calling at the Port of Virginia in May 2017, representing the beginning of a new era for Virginia and the U.S. East Coast.  The Port of Virginia's channels (50 feet) are also among the deepest on the East Coast and are currently being widened and deepened to 55 feet. In addition, the Port of Virginia is the only U.S. East Coast port that is not air draft constrained due to its use of tunnels - instead of bridges across the navigable channels. This is a strength, but also a source of road congestion, that creates bottlenecks at tunnel approaches.

In order for Hampton Roads to remain competitive in attracting new business interests, retaining existing businesses, and continue to grow economically, its transportation network must facilitate the rapid and efficient movement of raw materials and finished products using trucks, trains, ships, and planes.


HRTPO Freight Planning Efforts

With the rising importance of freight at the national, state, and regional levels, the HRTPO has engaged in many freight planning efforts. The HRTPO has established a Freight Transportation Advisory Committee (FTAC), integrated freight into the Long-Range Transportation Plan's Project Prioritization Tool, and produced several regional and local freight studies and tools.

Integration of Freight into the LRTP

Millions of tons of freight are transported in, out, and around the Hampton Roads region throughout the year. To plan for this safely and efficiently, freight considerations are factored into the regional Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The current Hampton Roads 2045 LRTP, adopted by the HRTPO in June 2021, is based on a collaborative process involving many regional stakeholders and the public to identify, prioritize, and fiscally constrain needed transportation investments.

Several goals of the 2045 LRTP pertain to freight and its impact on the region:

  • Support regional growth and productivity
  • Support efficient freight movement
  • Increase safety with an adaptive transportation system for all users, including minimizing conflicts between motorized and non-motorized modes
  • Increase accessibility, connectivity, and mobility of people and goods
  • Provide a variety of transportation options that accommodates all users
  • Increase the coordination of the transportation system, across and between modes, for people and goods
  • Reduce delay and improve travel efficiency

To meet these goals, the HRTPO has incorporated several freight-specific criteria within the Project Prioritization Tool. The HRTPO also conducts freight-related studies and coordinates with stakeholders to develop, prioritize, and implement transportation projects that will have a positive impact on freight movement, thus enhancing both regional and global competitiveness.

Hampton Roads Regional Freight Study

Regional Freight Study Update - coverStarting in 1991, Congress has encouraged the consideration of freight movement and intermodal connectivity in statewide and metropolitan transportation planning processes. As a result of this emphasis, the HRTPO began a series of regional freight studies in the early 1990s and released the region's first report in 1996. Through these regional freight studies, HRTPO identifies, develops, evaluates, and implements transportation strategies to improve the movement of goods and enhance connectivity among all modes of transportation.

HRTPO completed the latest update to the Regional Freight Study (PDF) in July 2017. The overall purpose of this study is to understand the impact of freight movement on regional and statewide employment, income, and economic growth in order to guide policy and investment decisions-particularly for prioritizing transportation projects that will improve connectivity, efficiency, reliability, and safety of the Hampton Roads freight multimodal transportation system. This report details the movement of goods across all freight facilities-highways, ports, railways, and airports. Special emphasis is placed on freight moving by trucks across highways as they serve as the predominant mover of freight.  Work is underway on an update to the Regional Safety Study, with an expected completion date in 2024.

As part of the Regional Freight Study update, HRTPO prepared the Freight in Hampton Roads Brochure (PDF), which includes highlights from the study. The brochure details why freight is important to Hampton Roads, how freight arrives in the region, the impacts of congestion on the trucking industry, and many key freight-related facts.

Freight Facilities Inventory

The Hampton Roads region is home not only to the third largest port on the East Coast but also to a number of other freight generators such as private marine terminals, airports, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, and military bases. These freight generators are connected by an extensive network of waterways, railroads, and highways.

HRTPO staff has created a web-based, interactive mapping inventory of freight facilities in Hampton Roads. This inventory includes the types of freight-generating facilities described above as well as other critical freight generators. The inventory also includes waterways, railroads, and highways that are critical to moving freight into, out of, and throughout the region. Information on truck bottlenecks and intermodal conflict points (such as highway-rail crossings and movable bridges) is also included.

Freight Inventory Map