Impact of Forest Road Maintenance Policies on Log Transportation Cost, Routing, and Carbon-Emission Trade-Offs: Oregon Case Study
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 146, Issue 5
Abstract
Wood transportation costs have significant impacts on timber investment returns. To optimize transportation costs, a practical design of the route network is necessary for log trucks that ship wood material from timberlands to wood mills. Road conditions resulting from various road maintenance policies dramatically affect speed limits, log-truck route networks, and transportation costs. The effects of road maintenance policies on truck route selection and user/agency cost trade-offs have not been deeply researched. By considering forest-road maintenance policies, this study intends to provide accurate information on timber-processing service coverage and log-truck route selections for forest companies or subcontracted fleets of log trucks. This research also conducts an environmental analysis to assess the effects of various road maintenance policies on consumed energy and greenhouse gas emissions of log trucks. With current maintenance policies, the results indicate that only between 33% and 51% of timber areas in Oregon can be accessed or harvested by existing nearby wood mills. However, application of the proposed road maintenance policy in this paper would increase accessibility to timberlands by up to 104%. The cost of log transportation also decreases by 16%–34%. The methodology developed in this study can lead to improvements in forest road preservation management systems to achieve the full benefits of reducing log-truck emissions and total transportation costs.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request:
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Selected optimal routes under three scenarios including road type, speed limits, and distance, for example;
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Allocated mills under three scenarios including their corresponding service timber area.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the following funding agencies for their support: North Dakota State University and the Mountain-Plains Consortium (MPC), a University Transportation Center funded by the USDOT.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 146 • Issue 5 • May 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 26, 2019
Accepted: Sep 23, 2019
Published online: Feb 26, 2020
Published in print: May 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jul 26, 2020
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