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Glossary of Terms

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Acronym Term
AAA American Automobile Association
AADT Annual Average Daily Traffic
AADTT Annual Average Daily Truck Traffic
AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
ACE Automated Commercial Environment
ADT Average Daily Traffic
ADTT Average Daily Truck Traffic
AEI Automatic Equipment Identification. Tags attached to trailers and rail cars that are readable by Mobile Inventory Vehicles
AES Automatic Export System
AGS ArcGIS Server – platform for the Goods Movement Mapping application
AMPO Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
APA American Planning Association
APWA American Public Works Association
ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers
ATA American Trucking Association
ATMS Advanced Traffic Management System
AVC Automatic Vehicle Classifier
   
BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics
BTS Bureau of Transportation Statistics
   
C Programming Language C
CAC Citizens Advisory Committee
CBD Central Business District
CDL Commercial Drivers License
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
CFS Commodity Flow Survey
CHCP Container Handling Cooperative Program
CIP Capital Improvement Program
CMP Congestion Management Process
CMAQ Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Act
CMV Commercial Motor Vehicle
COFC Container on flat Car. A method of transporting containers on rail cars. A typical COFC rail car can accommodate between two and four TEUs in a double stack configuration.
Congestion Pricing Charging for the use of road space in reflection of the costs which are imposed on other users.
CPI Consumer Price Index
CR County Road
CTPAT Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism
CUTR Center for Urban Transportation Research. One of several national transportation centers, CUTR is located within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida.
CV Commercial Vehicle
CVISN Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks
CVO Commercial Vehicle Operations
   
dB Decibels
dBA Decibels on the A-Weighted Scale
Dead-heading The process of returning with an empty trailer or rail car after delivering a load.
DGPS Differential Global Positioning System. Used to determine the location of vehicles, rail cars, equipment and shipments. Used in conjunction with Mobile Inventory Vehicles.
DHS Department of Homeland Security
DOD Department of Defense
DOT Department of Transportation
Double-Stack Two containers stacked vertically on a train. Doubles the capacity but there are problems with clearances of bridges and tunnels. Double stacks must be transported on routes specifically designed to accommodate the higher vertically stacked containers. Specifically the recommended height by the AREA of obstructions along the route is 23 feet. (1995, Wegmann et al).
Drayage The process of transferring goods locally from one means of transport to another. Example: Using trucks to dry cargo from a port to a rail facility across town.
DRI Development of Regional Impact
   
EA Environmental Assessment
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
EIS Environmental Impact Statement
ELUM Existing Land Use Map
EMS Emergency Medical Services
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EOR Engineer of Record
ETC Electronic Toll Collection
   
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
FAC Freight Activity Center
FARS Fatal Accident Reporting System
FAST Freight Action Strategy. A public/private partnership between the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma , the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Washington Department of Transportation.
FBT Floridians for Better Transportation
FDOT Florida Department of Transportation
FEIS Final Environmental Impact Statement
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEU Forty-foot Equivalent Unit. Refers to capacity measurement of containerized freight. Equal to two TEUs. (See TEU below for definition). A FEU container measures 40’L x 8′ W x 8.5 ‘ H.
FGDL Florida Geographic Data Library
FHWA Federal Highway Administration
FIHS Florida Intrastate Highway System
Fishyback Another term used for COFC that refers to containers transferred from ships at seaports (1995, Wegmann et al).
FLUM Future Land Use Map
FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
FMCSR Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
FONSI Finding of No Significant Impact
FR Federal Register
FRA Federal Railroad Administration
Freight Friendly Design Criteria Road and intersection design that enhance the flow of freight movement and minimize delay wherever possible. For example: designing right-hand turns with wider turning radii and longer acceleration lanes.
Freight Village See Intermodal Logistic Center
FS Florida Statute
FSUTMS Florida Standard Urban Transportation Modeling Structure
FTA Federal Transit Administration
FTC Florida Transportation Commission
FTP Florida Transportation Plan
FTZ Free Trade Zone
FY Fiscal Year
   
GDB Geodatabase
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIS Geographic Information System
GMAP Goods Movement Mapping Application
GMPH Gross Moves Per Hour
GPS Global Positioning System
GVW Gross Vehicle Weight
   
HAZMAT Hazardous Material(s)
HCM Highway Capacity Manual
HOT High Occupancy Toll
HOV High Occupancy Vehicle
HPMS Highway Performance Monitoring System
HTF Highway Trust Fund
   
ICC Interstate Commerce Commission
IIC Intermodal Interface Center
ILC Intermodal Logistics Center (a.k.a. Integrated Logistics Centers). ILCs are large facilities covering hundreds of acres that provides for the intermodal transfer of goods between modes that may include rail, trucking, air, and seaport in various combinations depending on location. ILC are best located near major highway corridors to make it easy to get the goods on and off the facility. In some cases other services are provided including fuel, driver services, hotel accommodations, food facilities, and security. Complimentary businesses are also collocated such as warehousing and distribution centers
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Transportation systems that use information, communication, sensor, and control technologies to achieve improved levels of performance (1996, Abbasi)
Iron Highway A new method of loading and unloading roll on/off trailers from rail cars using 1200 foot-long continuous platform with a split ramp in the center and a power unit on each end. Can handle any combination of trailer length and train sets can move as many as 40 trailers at a time. The system is currently employed by CSX Railroad in Chicago and Detroit. (1999, Volpe Center)
Intermodal Planning The process of addressing the linkages, interactions, and movements between modes of transportation.
ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991
ITDS Intermodal Trade Data System
ITE Institute of Transportation Engineers
IVHS Intelligent Vehicle Highway System
   
JIT Just-in-Time
   
LOS Level of Service
LRTP Long Range Transportation Plan
LTL Less than Truckload
LTL Carriers Less-Than-Truckload carriers often referred to as break-bulk shippers because they carry cargo for more than one shipper. Large loads, from TL companies, are broken down in break-bulk terminals for re-shipment by the LTL companies.
   
MIV Mobile Inventory Vehicle
MOA Memorandum of Agreement
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MP Mile Post
MPG Miles Per Gallon
MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization. A local transportation planning organization found in each of the major metropolitan areas responsible for long-range transportation planning.
MSA Metropolitan Statistical Area
MTS Metropolitan Transportation System. The “Metropolitan Transportation System as defined in ISTEA has a multimodal focus, an integration focus and a functional focus. As such, it reaches beyond the old road categories to look at principal arterials in the metropolitan areas, transit corridors, intermodal facilities such as trucking distribution centers, passenger terminals, ports, airports and railheads, as well as rail rights of way. The focus is on the integration of all the modes in the way that the user integrates modes in a trip into a functioning metropolitan system”(Dittmar, 1994).
Multimodal Planning A process of collectively addressing all modes of transportation.
MUTCD Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
   
NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards
NARC National Association of Regional Councils
NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement
NBI National Bridge Inventory
NCHRP National Cooperative Highway Research Program
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
NHI National Highway Institute
NHS National Highway System
NSC National Safety Council
NTAR National Transportation Region. There are 89 NTARs around the country.
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
NVOCC Non-Vessel Operating Common Carriers
   
O-D Survey Origin-Destination. A transportation survey that reveals the origins and destinations of vehicles surveyed.
   
PD&E Project Development and Environment
Piggyback Another commonly used term for TOFC and/or COFC (1995, Wegmann et al).
PMS Pavement Management System
POD Proof of Delivery
POE Port of Entry
PORTS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems. A Federal System for real-time tide and current information.
PTC Positive Train Control
PTS Positive Train Separation
PUD Planned Unit Development
   
RCI Roadway Characteristics Inventory or Roadway Congestion Index
RFID Radio Frequency Identification
RGMAC Regional Goods Movement Advisory Committee
ROD Record of Decision (EIS)
ROW Right-of-Way
RR Railroad
RTA Regional Transportation Authority
   
SAFETEA-LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
SED Shipper’s Export Declaration
SIC Standard Industrial Classification
SIS Strategic Intermodal System
SLSC/SLDC Shipper Load, Shipper Count/Shipper Load, Driver Count
SOV Single Occupant Vehicle
SR State Road
STIP State Transportation Improvement Program
STCC Standard Transportation Commodity Classification
STP Surface Transportation Program
   
3PL Third Party Logistics Provider. A specialist who provides a variety of transportation, warehousing, and logistics services to buyers and sellers.
TAC Technical Advisory Committee
TAZ Traffic Analysis Zone
TBARTA Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority
TBRGMS Tampa Bay Regional Goods Movement Study
TCEA Transportation Concurrency Exception Area
TCMA Transportation Concurrency Management Area
TD Transportation Disadvantaged
TDM Transportation Demand Management
TDR Transfer of Development Rights
TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.
TEU Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. Refers to capacity measurement of containerized freight. Because containers and trailers come in various sizes from 20 to 53 feet in length it is difficult to express the capacities of trains and ships. The TEU is used to convert capacities to a single known unit of a 20-foot container (20L x 8W x 8.5H). For example, a 40-foot trailer would equal 2 TEUs, a 50-foot trailer would equal 2.5 TEUs (1995, Wegmann et al).
TIP Transportation Improvement Program
TL Carriers Truckload Carriers service large customers that have sufficient cargo to make up a full truckload.
TMA Transportation Management Area
TOFC Trailer on Flat Car. This term is used to describe the method of transporting entire trailers on rail flat cars.
TPAG Transportation Provider Advisory Group. Representatives from the Tampa Bay Region organized from for-hire trucking firms and companies with internal fleets, CSXT Railroad, and provider organizations including the American Trucking association (ATA) and the Florida Trucking Association (FTA).
TRAMS Transportation Automated Measuring System
TRB Transportation Research Board
TRT Technical Review Team
TSA Transportation Security Administration
TSM Transportation System Management
TTI Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A& M University (National Congestion Statistics)
   
UFC Uniform Freight Classification
USC U.S. Code
UPWP Unified Planning Work Program
USDOT U.S. Department of Transportation
   
VB Visual Basic
V/C Volume-to-Capacity Ratio
VHT Vehicle Hours of Travel
VMS Variable Message Sign
VMT Vehicle Miles Traveled
   
WIM Weigh-In Motion