Tampa Bay Regional Goods Movement | Regional Freight Corridors

The Tampa Bay Region’s economic productivity is dependant on a transportation system that can handle goods efficiently and safely. Tampa Bay’s seaports, airports, and railroads have long been a cornerstone of the area’s economic prosperity. These intermodal activity centers are projected to have continued growth in the foreseeable future. This growth will largely depend upon the ability to improve and maintain efficient transportation connections in all parts of the region and surrounding areas.

Regional Freight Mobility Corridors play a key role in transporting goods and raw materials beyond the local area. Major emphasis is placed on the uninterrupted movement of goods between major freight activity centers and the statewide strategic freight corridors. They improve the general circulation of traffic by focusing regional and interstate truck activity on certain designated roadway facilities. Regional Freight Mobility Corridors were designated throughout the region to provide a transportation network for the efficient movement of goods while minimizing potential impacts of trucking to community assets such as neighborhoods and ecosystems.

The purpose of designating these corridors is to influence regional economic development through the implementation of policies and actions that will improve and preserve freight mobility in the corridors. The Regional Freight Mobility Corridors were identified by reviewing and evaluating the Statewide Strategic Trade Corridors included in FDOT’s Multimodal Trade Corridor Assessment Study (Phase I) and the Florida Freight Network and Modal Connector Study (Phase II), the Strategic Intermodal System Plan, and the freight activity centers defined in the Tampa Bay Regional Goods Movement Study.

The following considerations were used to define Regional Freight Mobility Corridors:

Provides access to designated regional freight activity centers;
Provides connectivity between freight activity centers;
Provides local connectivity between freight activity centers and Statewide Strategic Trade Corridors;
Carries significant truck volume;
Significantly contributes to a reduction of trucks on other roadway corridors; and
Compatibility of existing and planned land uses in the corridor.

The regional freight transportation network can be divided into three systems: highway corridors, rail corridors, and waterways. These complimentary systems are essential for moving goods within our region.

The region’s highway system is the foundation of effective and efficient goods movement. Unlike seaports, airports and railroads, virtually every business and household in the region is dependant to some extent on the mobility of trucks for shipping and receiving goods.

Trucks are and important means of sustaining the community by delivering products to stores for purchase; transporting raw materials and finished products for industries; hauling materials for the construction of roads, schools businesses, and homes; and other important functions. Trailers and containers are not simply boxes filled with goods that clog our highways but rather, represent many of the positive aspects of a thriving economy. Providing a safe, well-planned, surface transportation system to efficiently move goods while preserving personal mobility is becoming an increasingly significant concern as our roads become more congested.

The Rail Freight Mobility Corridors are also an important and integral part of the regional goods movement system.

The existing rail system is used to transport a significant amount of bulk material including phosphate and crushed rock to the Port of Tampa; coal to the Tampa Electric Company Power Plants located in the Port of Tampa; and coal by-product from the Progress Energy Florida Power Plant in Citrus County. The railroad also transports new and used automobiles, chemicals, petroleum products, general cargo, and orange juice.

The sea corridors consist of the channels that allow access to the port facilities along the eastern shore of Tampa Bay and lead out to the Gulf of Mexico. They are used to import and export commodities and finished products. Future uses may include short sea shipping when economically practical.