The research for National Cooperative Freight Research Project (NCFRP)23 was conducted between 2009 and 2011 by a team of consultants with extensive knowledge of the freight operations, facility siting, economic development, municipal and Metropolitan Planning Organization processes, public engagement and communications. Beginning with a thorough review of existing literature, the research approach included extensive interviews with industry practitioners as well as a survey of private and public section planners and decision makers. In this project:

• 25 interviews were conducted with a cross section of private freight companies
• 66 questionnaires with a 36% response rate were distributed to public and private stakeholders with the intent to gauge these sector’s current understanding of the site selection process for freight facilities
• Detailed information on freight facility siting factors were identified
• Seven case studies illustrating freight issues and dynamics were presented. Some excerpts from those case studies have been included in the guide and are featured on the subpages in the Case Study section

The guide, “Freight Facility Location Selection: A Guide for Public Officials” condenses and presents the findings of NCFRP Project 23 in a reader-friendly format to help local officials, planners and economic developers better understand how site selection decisions are made and how they can, if at all, influence them. Included in the guide is:

• A primer of various types and purpose of freight facilities
• How to evaluate freight facility impact and benefits
• The critical roles of groundwork and collaboration – best practices for the public sector
• How the location selection process works
• How candidate sites are evaluated
• Planning for freight in a changing landscape