GPA & GAITE Joint Meeting Recap, Let’s Talk Freight!

Freight movement and industrial development are having a greater impact than ever on residents and businesses in Metro Atlanta and Georgia, and we need to include it in our planning work. You’re not a freight planner?!?!  No problem, because we have resources available to assist transportation planners, land use planners, traffic engineers, and more. Visit the 2024 Atlanta Regional Freight Mobility Plan webpage and scroll down for all the resources. Even if you don’t read the rest of this article, go to the ARC website and use these resources. They’re your cheat sheet for freight planning!

Thank you to GPA and GA-ITE for the invitation to speak at their joint meeting on August 14, 2025. I (Daniel Studdard) along with Peter Hylton and Jonathan Nicholson presented on ARC’s 2024 Atlanta Regional Freight Mobility Plan. We had a great turnout, and a chance to do a deep dive into freight trends, issues, and data. We also discussed how freight impacts our region and state, and why we must plan effectively for freight in all our work to reduce its impact, improve safety, get industrial workers to their jobs, and more.

The 2024 Atlanta Regional Freight Mobility Plan is a comprehensive resource designed to help local communities better accommodate the freight traffic that drives Metro Atlanta’s economy. Metro Atlanta is one of the nation’s largest and most important logistics hubs, with direct connections by highway and rail to the Port of Savannah, the nation’s fourth-busiest container port. (Georgia’s ports are growing too!) Freight volumes are expected to rise sharply over the next 25 years, fueled by growth in the region’s population and at the state’s ports, as well as a rise in e-commerce.

Freight plays a critical role in the Atlanta region’s economy. Nearly one in three jobs are tied to the sector, and the Atlanta region ranks fifth nationally and No. 1 in the Southeast for total industrial development, a category that includes warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, and trucking depots. The plan developed two freight growth scenarios from 2019 to 2050: a “low-growth scenario” of 69% and a “high-growth scenario” of 118%. Since freight traffic in the region could more than double by 2050, we must plan for this growth to help reduce its impact.

Metro Atlanta Freight By-the-Numbers:

• Total freight volume (2019): 231 million tons (84% by truck, 16% by rail, 0.3% by air)
• Total value of freight (2019): $398.5 billion
• Share of jobs that are freight-related: 31%
• Atlanta MSA rank in total industrial development square footage, (March 2025): 5th in U.S., Number 1 in Southeast
• Freight volume inbound: 49%
• Freight volume outbound: 23%
• Freight shipped within region: 28%
• Top freight origins: Rest of Georgia (23%); rest of U.S. (75%); outside U.S. (2%)
• Top freight destination: Rest of Georgia (22%); rest of U.S. (77%); outside U.S. (2%)

As mentioned earlier, the plan includes important resources to assist transportation planners, land use planners, traffic engineers, elected officials, and others, including:

• Freight design guidelines that local governments may incorporate to shape new developments, focusing on industrial areas, downtowns and small regional centers, and major activity centers. The guidelines, which cover freight-related infrastructure such as roadway and intersection design, curb management, loading docks, and alleys, aim to enhance efficiency and safety while mitigating negative impacts of freight activity.
• A model truck parking zoning ordinance and related guidance to encourage the development of freight parking facilities. A lack of truck parking in the Atlanta region has been identified as a major challenge for both the trucking industry and local communities.
• A Classification Counts Summary focused on truck and commute truck trip generation at industrial businesses. This data can be used to supplement the ITE Trip Generation Manual where needed.
• A Guidance for Developing Truck Routes document which provides criteria and considerations for designating corridors as local truck routes or applying truck prohibitions.
• A 2024 Freight Cluster Statistics summary, which identifies locations of freight clusters in the Atlanta region and provides statistics such as square footage of industrial development, median year built, and other data for each cluster.
• County-level factsheets for the 20 counties in ARC’s transportation planning area. The factsheets provide a snapshot of each county’s freight traffic flows and freight-related employment and are designed as resources for planners, engineers, and public and private sector leaders.
• An interactive freight dashboard that provides stakeholders with the data needed to make informed decisions on issues and plans related to freight.
• A list of 147 recommended transportation projects that will improve freight mobility and safety in the region. These include bridge improvements or replacements, additional roadway capacity, new highway interchanges, and grade separations at rail crossings.

written by: Daniel Studdard, AICP, Planning Administrator, Atlanta Regional Commission

VIEW THE PRESENTATION