Case Studies of Supply Chain Data Informing Public-Sector Decisions

Throughout the workshop, many participants cited the need to improve the integration of supply chain considerations into the freight planning, policy making, and investment decision processes. It was noted that state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations have elevated freight planning but agencies were not yet cognizant of supply chain issues. Developing a series of illustrative case studies could assist agencies in more fully understanding the importance of supply chains to transportation operations and economic development. The case studies would demonstrate the types of data that would be needed and the questions necessary to plan for acquiring these data, providing a good starting point for understanding supply chains in the absence of more publicly available and accessible supply chain data.