County’s advanced mapping tool supports development decisions

Aerial shot of the Port of Savannah in Georgia.

Aerial shot of the Port of Savannah in Georgia. halbergman/Getty Images

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Henry County, Georgia, used it to decide where freight facilities should go. But the computer-based tool could be repurposed to help other communities address their hot-button issues.

Henry County, Georgia, is ideally located to help facilitate commerce and the movement of freight. It’s a 40-minute drive southeast of Atlanta on Interstate 75, and it’s on the way to the Port of Savannah. The county is prime territory for warehouses, distribution centers and other freight-related developments.

But there’s just one problem: truck traffic. Because of its central location, big rigs choke the interstate, highways and roadways in the county as they travel between the port, Atlanta and beyond. Unauthorized truck parking even clogs the shoulders of local roads and on- and off- ramps.

“All this truck traffic that comes with freight-related development generates a lot of strong sentiments among our citizens,” Sam Baker, Henry County’s transportation planning director, said during Route Fifty’s Future Cities event this week. “Freight-related development brings jobs and tax revenue, but it also brings a lot of truck traffic.”

Baker wants to get ahead of the conflict. Henry County expects its population to grow to 370,000 by 2050, and is the second fastest growing county in the Atlanta metropolitan region. He wants to ensure that any new developments to support the freight industry are properly located and less likely to negatively impact the community in terms of increasing traffic congestion and environmental degradation.

In a bid to better determine the best place to locate new freight-related developments, the county developed a tool that maps the most suitable locations based on five different factors: land-use suitability; transport accessibility; environmental sensitivity; social vulnerability; and community input. The map allows planners to move sliders next to each factor to emphasize or deemphasize them, and then updates itself to reflect the suitability of suggested locations.

Within each factor, a variety of criteria is weighed. Those criteria include, among others, existing warehouse and distribution center locations; the proximity to major freight corridors, to schools and other public facilities, and to vulnerable populations or residential neighborhoods; and vulnerability to noise and air pollution.

Henry County’s Smart Resilience Decision Support Tool is funded in part by a grant from the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge, which awarded the county $92,800 to develop it last year. In applying for the grant, the county argued the tool would give it flexibility in weighing different factors and would allow decision-makers to run advanced scenarios in an effort to balance “economic growth with environmental and social considerations,” according to the county.

Baker said county officials also heavily engaged with the public in developing the tool, in particular in determining which factors should be weighed. 

Project leaders held community events with elected officials and other staff in which live polls were taken of what residents wanted to see incorporated. Separately, an online survey of residents was done. More than 500 responses were received, which allowed people to express their feelings on various types of development, not just freight-related developments.

Baker said the tool could be repurposed for other issues in other communities.

“For Henry County, freight-related development is the hot button issue,” he said. “It may be something else for other local governments, and this tool can be modified and developed for similar purposes in other local governments nationwide.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.