Micro-Dynamics of business location and growth and its effects on the transportation network and congestion in Georgia and the Southeast region

Project Description: 

The research explores the little understood linkages between the micro-foundations of industry dynamics and economic activity, and the macro-congestion aspects of freight transport. The automobile manufacturing industry in the southeast GA, and specifically the Kia Motors manufacturing plant near West Point, GA was selected for in-depth empirical analysis. A major goal of the project is to identify and collect detailed economic activity and supply chain data associated with the growth of manufacturing plant activities both within the plant and among the many parts suppliers that have moved into the area to serve it. It also involves a detailed functional and spatial mapping of the domestic and international supply chain inputs and outputs and the demands they place on the region’s transportation system. Of interest from a transportation planning perspective are any freight movement bottlenecks that exist or are projected to exist in the future as a result of the anticipated growth in highway and rail traffic, and that may hinder future industrial growth within Georgia and the SE region.

Final Report:

Micro-Dynamics of Business Location and Growth and Its Effects on the Transportation Network and Congestion in Georgia and the Southeast Region

Presentations:

  1. "Location of Automobile Manufacturing Plants, Development of Supply-Chains, and the Effects on Economic Development and Demand for Transportation", presented at the 2013 UTC Conference for the Southeastern Region in Orlando, Florida, April 4-5, 2013.
  2. "Micro-Dynamics Of Business Location And Growth And Its Effects On The Transportation Network and Congestion In Georgia and the Southeast Region", presented at the 2nd Annual GDOT/GTI Poster Session in Atlanta, Georgia, September 24, 2014.
  3. "Microdynamics of Industrial Location", presented to the Georgia Department of Transportation in Atlanta, Georgia, June 2013.

Project Information Forms:

  1. January 2013
  2. July 2013
  3. January 2014
  4. June 2014
  5. January 2015

Publications:

  1. V. Ghosal and F. Southworth (2014) Micro-Dynamics Of Business Location And Growth And  Its Effects On The Transportation Network And Congestion In Georgia And The Southeast Region.  Final  Report. Georgia Department of Transportation (GODT) Research Project No. 12-24.

Describe Implementation of Research Outcomes (or why not implemented) : 

Through this project, a detailed database has been developed that includes multi-sourced economic activity data. The database allows researchers to measure changes in number variables, including regional area populations, migration, income, occupations, and education. Specifically, the project centered on a case study of comparisons between an area between 2005 and 2007, before the opening of an automobile manufacturing facility and the same area from 2007 to 2010, after the manufacturing facility had opened. In evaluating this case study, conclusions have been drawn and growth multipliers have been developed for the data sources listed above. These growth multipliers include estimates of the increase in mean and median household incomes in the region since the plant opened compared to other areas in the state. Additionally, data related to the size and geographic location of the region’s automobile parts suppliers has been complied and geo-coded, along with detailed multi-year data on imported parts shipments from Asia and Europe. These flows have been mapped in GIS software, using a multimodal (truck-rail-waterway) representation of the United States' transportation network, linked to a global network of trans-oceanic shipment routes, and including intermodal connections through major US and supply-chain identified foreign seaports. A procedure spanning multiple transportation modes to find the path of least cost has been developed for estimating network-based source-to-destination shipment costs by mode of transport on United States, North American, and global scales.

Principal Investigator(s): 
Ghosal, Vivek
Southworth, Frank
Principal Investigator(s) Contact Information: 
frank.southworth@ce.gatech.edu vivek.ghosal@econ.gatech.edu
University(ies): 
Georgia Institute of Technology
Start and End Dates: 
05/31/12 – 08/15/14
Topic: 
Economic Competitiveness

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