1.1 THE FAF PROGRAM

The Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) integrates data from a variety of sources to create a comprehensive national picture of freight movements among states and major metropolitan areas by all modes of transportation.  It provides a national picture of current freight flows to, from, and within the United States, assigns the flows to the transportation network, and projects freight flow patterns into the future.  The FAF4 is the fourth database of its kind, FAF1 provided estimates for truck, rail, and water tonnage for calendar year 1998, FAF2 provided a more complete picture based on the 2002 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) and FAF3 made further improvements building on the 2007 CFS.  Since the first FAF effort, a number of changes in both data sources and products have taken place.  The FAF information, including documents and data files, can be found at the following websites: https://www.bts.gov/topics/freight-transportation and http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/faf/index.htm.

The FAF4 flow matrix described in this report is used as the base-year data to forecast future freight activities, projecting shipment weights and values from year 2020 to 2045 in five-year intervals.  It also provides the basis for annual estimates to the FAF4 flow matrix, aiming to provide users with the timeliest data. Furthermore, FAF4 truck freight is routed on the national highway network to produce the FAF4 network database and flow assignments for truck. 

1.2 FAF4 BASE-YEAR DATABASE

The first FAF4 product is the 2012 base-year Origin-Destination (OD) database, and subsequent products like forecasts and network flows are derived from that.  The primary dimensions of this base-year FAF4 matrix are shipment origin (O), shipment destination (D), commodity class (C), and mode of transportation (M).  Both domestic and foreign trade shipments are represented in FAF4 flows.  The database includes estimates of freight volumes, in dollar values and tonnages for shipments to, from, and within regions for 2012.  This document offers a description of the diverse data sources and modeling methods used in constructing the base year FAF4 Origin-Destination database.

The FAF4 is built upon the 2012 CFS; changes made to the CFS data inevitably affect the FAF. The 2012 CFS contains 132 areas, an increase of domestic regions from 123 areas in the 2007 CFS.  Note that FAF4 adapted the same definitions of foreign regions and modes of transportation as those used in the FAF3.  The FAF4 flow matrix contains; 132 (O) x 132 (D) x 43 (C) x 7 (M) of potential data cells for shipments moved within the U.S. 

In addition to data from the 2012 CFS, FAF4 includes shipments from establishments that were out-of-scope (OOS) to the 2012 CFS sampling frame.  This includes businesses classified in farms, fisheries, transportation, construction and demolition, most retail and service industries, foreign establishments (imports), crude petroleum and natural gas shipments, municipal solid waste, logging, as well as household and business moves.  Discussions on specific OOS components of the FAF4 matrix are presented in Sections 5 through 11 in this report.

1.3 ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT

This report details the data sources and methodologies applied to develop the base year 2012 FAF4 database.  An overview of the FAF4 components is briefly discussed in Section 2.  Effects on FAF4 from the changes in the 2012 CFS are highlighted in Section 3.  Section 4 provides a general discussion on the process used in filling data gaps within the domestic CFS matrix, specifically on the estimation of CFS suppressed/unpublished cells.  Over a dozen CFS OOS components of FAF4 are then addressed in Section 5 through Section 11 of this report.  This includes discussions of farm-based agricultural shipments in Section 5, shipments from fishery and logging sectors in Section 6.  Shipments of municipal solid wastes and debris from construction and demolition activities are covered in Section 7.  Movements involving OOS industry sectors on Retail, Services, and Household/Business Moves are addressed in Section 8.  Flows of OOS commodity on crude petroleum and natural gas are presented in Sections 9 and 10, respectively.  Discussions regarding shipments of foreign trade, including trade with Canada/Mexico, international airfreight, and waterborne foreign trade, are then discussed in Section 11.  Several appendices are also provided at the end of this report to offer additional information.