Indian Journal of Economics & Business, Vol. 9, No. 4, (2010) : 827-839 A SURVEY OF ECONOMIC MEASURES OF FREIGHT RELIABILITY AND SECURITY AMLAN MITRA Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN 46323 ARDESHIR J. DALAL Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework for estimating economic benefits and costs of improved freight reliability and security in Northwest Indiana. Two approaches are employed in this framework. The first focuses on possible operational improvements by examining the existing operational strategies and methods in order to provide an accurate and timely characterization of freight flows. The second approach focuses on infrastructure investments to add new capacity in the freight network. The implementation of the two approaches is discussed in the proposed analytical framework. Key words: transportation infrastructure, freight transportation, reliability, security, intelligent transportation systems JEL Index: L91, O33, R41 1. INTRODUCTION The volume of domestic freight traffic in the United States has grown dramatically over the last decade and is expected to increase by 85 percent through 2020. In Indiana, the volume of commercial truck freight alone is projected to increase by 40 percent over the same period. At the same time, the reliability of freight movements has declined due to increased travel time (TRIP, 2005) and recent events underscore the need for increased security of freight operations. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) administered by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) has recently published a report (NCHRP, 2003) on travel time reliability. According to the report, the transportation industry has just begun to address the challenges faced by unreliable travel time. The root causes of unreliable travel time are not very clear and the experience with how to deal with factors affecting travel time reliability is very limited. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), in collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is also attempting to address these challenges through several initiatives. The FHWA and INDOT recognize that the timely and reliable movement of trucks is critical to the economy, and a key element of the DOT’s goal is to