| Project Scope:
Washakie County retained Pedersen
Planning Consultants to perform a Big Horn Transportation Study
for a four-county area that comprises most of Wyoming’s Big Horn
Basin. Economic developers serving this regional area have
experienced some market resistance to private investment because
of a perceived lack of available truck transportation
services. This constraint motivated regional economic
developers to seek information concerning the type and extent of
trucking companies that serve the Big Horn Basin, as well as
what actions might encourage a greater amount of truck
backhauls.
PPC initially established a
database of local, regional and national trucking companies that
serve the Big Horn Basin. This information was derived and
refined from available telephone directories, a list furnished
by the WY Business Council and the knowledge of regional
economic developers. Representatives from over 100 trucking
companies were contacted by telephone to determine the community
locations served in the basin and the type of truck trailers
used, general schedules, the type of materials and commodities
transported, general truck travel routes, the extent of
available backhaul opportunities, and related truck
transportation issues.
Information
gained from telephone interviews was supplemented by a review of
other available information from several reliable trucking
industry organizations and the U.S. Department of
Transportation. This review led to the determination of primary
factors influencing truck transportation within the Big Horn
Basin.
PPC subsequently mapped primary
truck transportation routes within the Big Horn Basin. The
volume of materials, equipment and commodities being transported
into the Basin was determined, in part, through the collection
of available information from the Frannie Port of Entry in
northern Big Horn County.
The preceding information enabled
PPC to determine and recommend strategies for encouraging
greater number of backhaul opportunities in the region. These
strategies included, in part, recommendations aimed at
stimulating greater and more efficient communication between
trucking companies, local manufacturers, distributors, and other
companies using truck transportation, and regional economic
developers. |
