Public investment in transportation infrastructure has traditionally been along modal lines with little effort to develop a multimodal approach. Consequently, it is difficult to determine if public transportation dollars have been invested in the most cost-effective manner. This study examines alternate strategies to transport raw timber from the stump to mills. At present, all raw timber is delivered to the mills within the Lufkin District utilizing the existing roadway system. The existing transportation system is examined using a 'system costs' approach that includes public facility (infrastructure) costs, vehicle operating costs, and externalities like accident and environmental costs. Some of these costs are paid for by vehicle operators through user fees and taxes and represent the 'supported' cost component of total system costs. However, unaccounted costs remain and consist of some proportion of the facility costs not paid by vehicle operators through user taxes and fees and system externalities. It is recommended that alternate configurations for the transportation of raw timber in the Lufkin District involve an intermodal approach. The alternate solution to the timber transportation problem is viable if it exploits each mode (rail or truck) for the portion of the timber haul for which it is best suited and builds on modal complementaries that best serve the needs of the industry. The encouragement of an alternate method for the delivery of raw timber to the mills could be a more economical use of public funds.
Economics of Raw Timber Transportation: A Feasibility Study
1997
82 pages
Report
No indication
English
Road Transportation , Highway Engineering , Construction Equipment, Materials, & Supplies , Transportation & Traffic Planning , Transportation , Intermodal transportation systems , Structural timber , Research , Wooden bridges , Productivity , Saw mills , Economic factors , Costs , Feasibility studies , Implementation , Maintenance , Infrastructure , Highway construction , Environmental impact assessments , Rural roads , Texas , Rail transportation , Trucks , Taxes , Public transportation
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