The Florida Department of Transportation and Florida State University (FSU) have partnered for a research project that aims to develop an actionable urban transportation policy framework.
The nearly $940,000, two-year Florida Freight Corridor Planning project also will promote economic development and help position Florida as the Southeast’s central freight and commercial transportation hub.
Researchers will investigate how the transportation network can diversify the state’s economy, examine connections between Florida’s metropolitan areas to assess economic development potential, and analyze and integrate the multimodal transportation network to discover characteristics and connectivity points.
The research team will be comprised of transportation and planning experts who will make recommendations that will best facilitate transportation lines and transshipment hubs.
“Upgrading our highways to reduce congestion, modernizing our ports to handle increased cargo volumes and enhancing airport facilities to improve passenger efficiency are the main focus points,” said Samuel Staley, director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the FSU College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. “We are rethinking how our infrastructure components, such as roads, bridges, ports and airports can work together more effectively to serve the state’s economic needs.”
Staley is the program’s principal investigator.