Freight Analysis Framework (FAF)

RESOURCE DESCRIPTION

The Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) is a dataset maintained by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) that characterizes freight movement among states, major metropolitan areas, and nationwide by all modes of transportation. DOT uses FAF during an emergency to analyze steady-state commodity flows that may be affected by event impacts, and in some cases, the potential travel time impacts for those commodities. FAF is also used at the state and local level and in academic research. Data available in FAF fall broadly into four categories: total flows, domestic flows, import flows, and export flows. For each flow type, FAF outputs specify commodity flows between origins and destinations in thousands of tons of weight, millions of dollars of value, and millions of ton-miles. Additional data available in FAF include forecasts 30 years from the present year, historical state-to-state flows, truck flows assigned to the highway network, and domestic ton-miles and distance bands. FAF data can be viewed in custom summary tables or downloaded in spreadsheet, Microsoft Access, or geospatial formats. Options for commodity flow origins and destinations include states, FAF regions, and national-level aggregated data. However, a specific origin or destination is not required; a general distance around the origin or destination can be specified instead. Options for transportation modes include any single mode (e.g., rail, water, air), or multiple modes. Any combination of an array of commodities may be chosen (e.g., meat, coal, gasoline, basic chemicals). FAF incorporates data from agriculture, extraction, utility, construction, service, and other sectors. Federal agency partners contribute sector-specific data to FAF, including the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Data are also derived from the DOT Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), the DOT Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Highway Performance Management System (HPMS), and the US Census Bureau international trade datasets.

BROAD DATA CATEGORIES

• Economy
• Transportation

GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE

US