City’s Gateways and Corridors Development
A Network of movement corridors, Alexandria City- Egypt
A thesis submitted to the faculty of Fine Art in partial
Fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Doctoral of Philosophy
IN
Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design
Supervisors:
Professor Dr. MAGDY MOHAMED MOUSSA Professor of Architecture, Faculty of fine of Arts, Alexandria University
Professor Dr. MOHAMED MAHER SHAHIN
Professor of transportation, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University
By:
MOURAD SALAH ELDIN AMER FRIHEY
2018
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, with my great humbleness I acknowledge that my knowledge is a grace
from “Allah”. The least thing that I do when I pray is, to give thanks to “Allah” for redirecting
me to the knowledge path.
I am deeply indebted to both my parents, although they are physically absent, but their advice,
teaching and guidance are still deeply followed. I am especially thankful for my father, as he
has been my ideal guide throughout my life. For both, I cannot pay them back their rights.
May this thesis reward them a part of their rights when it is inherited by my daughters and
sons. I hope that one day my daughters and sons find me as inspiring to them as my parents
were to me.
I definitely want to acknowledge the love of my wife and my big family for their support to
me. I would like to thank them and ask them for forgiveness as I was not able to fulfill my
obligations towards them in the period of preparing this research.
I would like to address my great appreciations to my supervisors; Professor Dr. Magdy
Mohamed Moussa for his continuous support and useful encouragement. There is a chance
that the research would not have been completed without his guidance for me in developing
and arranging my ideas. Special thanks for Professor Dr. Mohamed Maher Shahin for his great
advisees and orientations that put me on the track and rearranged my ideas in the right way.
I have not forgotten Dr. Mohamed Mehina for his continues help and support throughout the
journey and for his help with the GIS, particularly for sharing his experience and knowledge
with me, giving me advice and sharing data. I also thank professor Dr. Nabil Mohareb, the
dean of faculty of Engineering Tripoli, Beirut University for his great help in using Space
Syntax and DepthMap software.
Also, I want to thank Professor Nabil Khelifi, Senior Publishing Editor at Springer, for his
continues support and guidance throughout the whole process of research and analysis.
Last but not least, I have to thank Dr. Mohsen Abu Bakr Bayad, Professor of architecture and
urban design and vice president of Faculty of fine arts for postgraduate studies and researches
Alexandria University for his support and services without any displeasure.
Mourad Salah El-din Amer
Alexandria in 8/3/ 2018
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Abstract:
A gateway is an entrance creating access to tributary areas making the city in charge of
connections between tributary areas and the outside world. These connections are “Corridors”
that are generally referred to in terms of transport infrastructures.
Like a gateway, a corridor has been particularly as valuable and a complementary tool with
new world urban frontier systems. In transport planning, the relationship between gateways
and corridors has become a main focus of attention. Special attention is paid to freight and
passenger traffic flows in the latter half of the twentieth century which demands a
consideration of gateways and corridors essential to support urban and regional development.
Alexandria city has several kinds of gateways that are not supported fully with connections
and corridors that maximize their efficiency. Thus, these gates create additional pressure on
metropolitan areas. In addition, the marine gates of Alexandria and Dekheila face inefficiency
in their capacities. The aim of this study is to find a mechanism of change necessary in
promoting the globalization Alexandria through strengthening inter-city freight transport.
The study hypothesizes that relocating the city gates to inland dry port, alongside
implementing new transport corridors. These corridors would act as ring roads that surround
the city in three development stages that meet the growing demand of freight transport. As a
result, there will be an increase in connectivity, proximity, and accessibility. Moreover, it
should re-balance the existing development patterns, orient territorial development, find new
land potential and form the spatial policy of future growth of Alexandria. Alexandria will then
be declared a nodal and global city with a multi international connection and movement
corridors, for people and commodities, which connect the city to the global economy system.
The reform and development of this issue can lead to discovering a lot of Small Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) in Alexandria as well as in Mediterranean Cross- borders and thus create
a balance to the social class and recent inequalities.
Alongside the improvement of truck facilities and access, the study recommends to shift cargo
transport from trucks to rail and waterway vessels and activate the role of natural waterway
means in the transport of commodities. The basic solution could be found when the study
integrates the use of Hub-and-Spoke in cargo distribution and transshipment.
The study advises politicians and decision makers to establish policies that can put in order
global connections between their countries and other cities gateways without the consideration
of variances and political frontier borders as well as shifting their geo-political relationships.
Keywords: Freight transport, gateways, dry ports, corridor transport.
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Introduction
With an increase in product specializations and globalization, cities need well-connected
transportation networks, however, tend to neglect freight transport. Although freight
transportation benefits the urban economy through offering a number of jobs and services, it
has been overlooked and seldom included in transport surveys, transport strategies, and
regional planning, (Lasalle, 2015).
The capability of transporting goods to nearby cities is, therefore, put a critical situation. The
transport system in general and the intermodal transport terminals, in particular, have now
been relocated or redesigned in many cities. However, such expansion may face some
constraints. For example, a city gate must be relocated in the middle of the city rather than at
the edge because of the city’s possible expansion. The demand for land in central areas is
stresses on the need to relocate large-scale internal dry gates or ports to less central city
locations.
The study should adopt a strategy of directing cities to benefit from their gateways as a method
of improving their freight transportation system which can lead to reducing the traffic
congestion in urban regions and making them more livable. This category of urban transport,
however, should be regulated by road transport policies on an economical basis in an attempt
to decrease the difficulty that excessive congestion places upon both travelers and urban
dwellers along the urban road network.
The study is composed of three main parts and each part consists of two chapters. Part one
explains how gateways can help the city develop its features, potential, and aspects instead of
causing congestion. Chapter one of this part discusses the main problem and defines the role
of city gateways and their functions. It clarifies the locations and spaces of flows and how the
study’s aims are to be validated. Chapter two, on the other hand, explores the growing demand
for transport and how it affects the urban form. It explains the procedures and processes of
transport systems using the Four Step Travel Model (FSM).
Part two discusses the development and relocation of city gateways and facilitates locating a
dry port to assist and support the sea harbor. Chapter three explains the influences on the
movement and their potential Catalysts that certainly affect the movement patterns of urban
workers, it presents a clear explanation of the criteria of dry port selection as well as discussing
the thought of finding new axis and transport corridors can offer effective and appropriate
land use. It would also assist in finding new corridors for successful transportation services
which are essential to provide accessibility in congested urban areas. This can integrate
efficient land use to transport planning and coordinate the development of all transport modes
while considering high-quality access needed in large urban areas. Chapter four reviews three
international case studies successful in solving the congestion problem and led to a well-
connected freight transport network.
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Moreover, part three discusses the thesis case study in Alexandria while chapter five studies
the spatial analysis of the city gates. Moreover, this chapter presents a complete study of trip
distribution by allocating existing freight movements and traffic capacity. It defines the spaces
of flows and the Origin – Destination (OD) of Freight Movements. Chapter six presents the
proposal of finding Alexandria’s dry port through employing the criteria of selection to the
dry port’s location using Geographic Information System (GIS). The chapter also presents
three stages to propose a new corridor in short, medium and long-term solutions. Validation
is given using the Space Syntax and DepthMap software.
The goal of this study is to create a new action plan that is needed to employ Gateways and
Corridors concept in finding strategies of creating an effective freight network at national and
local levels, especially when infrastructure and services are sufficient. Therefore, this should
be taken into considerations when the study analyzes the Locations and Spaces of Flows
where the gateways are often apparent as hubs in networks of flows of goods and people. At
the same time, they also support the economic and social places where many services and
infrastructure are available and can be accessed. Therefore, it has a unique territorial character
and is at the same time a matter of scale.
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Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5
1. Chapter 1: Definitions, role and functions ..................................................................... 13
1.1. Locations and Spaces of flows ................................................................................ 13
1.2. Aim and objectives.................................................................................................. 15
1.3. Definitions: A gateway and a hub’s functions ........................................................ 15
1.4. Main research questions .......................................................................................... 17
1.5. Problem statement ................................................................................................... 18
1.5.1. Re- urbanization ............................................................................................... 19
1.5.2. Traffic Congestion and freight routing problems ............................................ 20
1.5.3. Environmental problems .................................................................................. 21
1.6. The instance on the city of Alexandria……………………………..…………..……22
1.7. Alexandria’s ports capacity ..................................................................................... 24
1.8. Thesis hypothesizes................................................................................................. 25
1.9. Types of gateway functions .................................................................................... 26
1.10. Connectivity functions of gateways and corridors .............................................. 27
1.11. Conclusion of chapter 1: City gateways perspective and extended gate concept 29
2. Chapter 2: Travel pattern and demand of urban transport ............................................. 30
2.1. Transportation demand, congestion and agglomeration at cities gateways ............ 30
2.1.1. Growth of demand for urban transportation Solutions .................................... 32
2.2. The Integration between urban transport, land use and urban form ....................... 36
2.3. Freight networks ..................................................................................................... 40
2.3.1. Travel Demand Forecasting and Modelling Process ....................................... 40
2.3.2. Forecasting goals and allocation of effort ....................................................... 41
2.3.3. A freight transport network: The Four-Step Travel Modelling Process .......... 41
2.3.4. Socioeconomic Data and Transportation Analysis Zones ............................... 44
2.3.5. Network Data and Highway Networks ............................................................ 45
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2.4. Conclusion of chapter 2: Shaping urban land use for sustainable transport ........... 45
3. Chapter 3: Transport process and the role of dry port ................................................... 48
3.1 Networks’ construction ........................................................................................... 48
3.1.1. Geographical location of gateways and corridors ........................................... 49
3.1.2. Freight transport process .................................................................................. 50
3.1.3. Supply Chain process ...................................................................................... 51
3.1.4. Logistics ........................................................................................................... 51
3.2 The distribution of freight transport ........................................................................ 52
3.2.1. Hub-and-Spoke ................................................................................................ 54
3.2.2. Hinterland ........................................................................................................ 55
3.3 City Gates Relocation ............................................................................................. 57
3.3.1. Rail Access to Terminals ................................................................................. 57
3.3.2. The dry-ports ................................................................................................... 58
3.3.3. Distant dry ports .............................................................................................. 60
3.3.4. Mid-range dry ports ......................................................................................... 61
3.3.5. Close dry ports ................................................................................................. 62
3.3.6. ICT use in Dry Port management .................................................................... 62
3.3.7. The Criteria of choosing a Dry Port location ................................................... 63
3.4 Conclusion of part 3 ................................................................................................ 64
4. Chapter 4: International case studies ............................................................................. 66
4.1 Developing a new large scale dry port Al Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ........................... 66
- Advantages and the Guidelines of the Project: ....................................................... 68
4.2 Dry Ports of the Texas Triangle .............................................................................. 69
4.2.1. The Triangle Road Network ............................................................................ 70
4.2.2. The Triangle’s Rail Network ........................................................................... 71
4.3 Kelly in San Antonio and Alliance in Fort Worth Dry Ports .................................. 72
4.3.1. Kelly in San Antonio ....................................................................................... 72
4.3.2. Traffic Analysis Zones and the Forecasting of San Antonio’s Freight Movement
………………………………………………………………………………..73
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4.3.3. The Alliance Global Logistics Hub ................................................................. 75
4.3.4. The port of Hamburg, Germany: A Hub with Excellent Connections ............ 78
4.3.5. Hinterland Relations in Freight Distribution ................................................... 79
4.3.6. Connection to the Inland Waterway Network ................................................. 81
3. Conclusion of Chapter 4 ............................................................................................. 82
5. Chapter 5: the proposal of Strengthening Alexandria City Gates ................................. 84
5.1 Spatial analysis ........................................................................................................ 84
5.1.1. Purpose of study .............................................................................................. 84
5.1.2. Alexandria’s Gateways types .......................................................................... 85
5.1.3. Alexandria’s Gateways problems .................................................................... 86
5.2 Alexandria Travel Analyzes zones ......................................................................... 87
5.2.1. Inland transport ................................................................................................ 89
5.2.2. Transit developments ....................................................................................... 89
5.2.3. Hinterlands developments ............................................................................... 90
5.3 Trip distribution: Existing Freight Movements and traffic capacity analysis ......... 90
5.3.1. Spaces of flows: The Origin – Destination (OD) of Freight Movements ........ 91
5.3.2. Origin of freight flow from Alexandria and El-Dekheila ports ....................... 91
5.3.3. Existing Freight Movement of Export and Import, 2017 ................................ 93
5.4 Analysis of Daily Traffic Volumes ......................................................................... 95
5.5 Future, 2022 and 2032 Freight Flows in Alexandria ............................................ 101
5.5.1. Future Freight Movement of Export and Import in Alexandria (2022—2032)
………………………………………………………………………………102
5.5.2. Future freight Movement of different origins of flows ................................. 103
5.5.3. The monitoring evaluation of the freight movement in Alexandria .............. 105
5.6 The proposal Methodology ................................................................................... 110
5.6.1. Learned lessons from international examples ................................................ 111
5.6.2. Stakeholders demands and opinions .............................................................. 112
5.6.3. Shift cargo from Trucks to Rail and Waterways Vessels .............................. 113
5.6.4. Alexandria Dry port Project........................................................................... 114
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5.6.5. The influence of hub and spoke concept at the truck movement .................. 119
5.6.6. Improvement the Trucks’ facility access ....................................................... 120
5.7 Conclusion of chapter 5 ........................................................................................ 121
6. Chapter 6: the complete proposal of Alexandria freight network ............................... 122
6.1 The criteria of new access assignment .................................................................. 122
6.2 Short term (immediately) solution ........................................................................ 124
6.3 Mid-term solution ................................................................................................. 127
6.4 Long-term solution ................................................................................................ 128
6.5 Evaluation of the proposal through users’ preference .......................................... 129
6.6 Equilibrium and network efficiency ..................................................................... 134
6.7 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 135
6.8 The Online Discussion .......................................................................................... 138
6.9 Recommendations ................................................................................................. 138
References……………………………………………...………………………………….138
Appendixes….………………………………………...……………………….………….144
153.……………………………………………………...…………………………الملخص العربي
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Abbreviations:
Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Four Step Travel Model (FSM)
Origin – Destination (OD)
Geographic Information System (GIS)
City Logistics (CL)
City Distribution Centers (CDC)
Transportation Analysis Zones (TAZ)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Nitrogen oxides (NOX)
Sulfur Oxides (SO2)
Hydrocarbons (HCs)
Twenty Foot Equivalent Units TBUs
Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs)
Information and communication technologies (ICT)
THE Union Pacific (UP)
The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF)
volume to capacity ratio (V/C)
Traffic Assignment Model (SAM)
Alexandria Port Authority (APA)
Alexandria International Container Terminals (AICT)
Egyptian National Railways (ENR)
River Transport Authority (RTA)
Inland Water Transport (IWT)
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Growth Domestic Product (GDP)
The Passenger Car Equivalent (PCE)
Passenger Car Unit (PCU)
Digital Elevation Modeling (DEM)
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PART 1: City gateways: The concept and perspective
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1. Chapter 1: Definitions, role and functions
This chapter begins by discussing the importance of city gateways, which act as the medium
through which people and commodities enter and exit. Therefore, a gateway organizes daily
movements and controls economic development. This chapter discusses current problems that
result from neglecting the vital role of city gates. It also discusses logical ways as to strengthen
the inland transport system as well as explores the spaces of flow and defines the context and
contents of a transport network.
1.1. Locations and Spaces of flows
Locations are subjected to the level of spatial aggregation of socio-economic activities that
characterize demand of mobility and determine its place. Connectivity is mostly the tool of
the nodes’ accessibility to the demand services. (Jean et al., 2006).
The density of traffic on the network can be attributed to the flow of people, freights, and
services available in urban regions, city’ edges, or core centers; they define the mobility
function and linkage capacity. Whereas the freight transport is mainly affected by the locations
of flow spaces, public transportation is influenced by urban land use. Therefore, all of the
transportation systems respond to private actors to adjustments in the land use of the city and
as well as in the regional scale. The development of land use and transport is closely related
and is considered conventional sense to both; decision makers and citizens. In addition,
traveling, transportation of goods, and the essential principle of transport analysis are needed
due to the spatial disconnection of human activities. According to this principle, the
suburbanization of cities is understood to lead to increasing the labors opportunities, and the
transport demand.
Hinterlands are the most permanent concepts in city gateways development, especially those
applied to the ports gateways. They refer to the port market area, the area from which the gate
draws and distributes traffic (Jean et al., 2006). In addition to the connectivity, gateways
require hinterlands to include inland intermodal facilities to receive, distribute, exchange and
transshipment commodities to many destinations or to further networks, (ESPON Program,
2013).
Hubs and Spoke - or transshipment nodes that support the movement by offering the network
with a large number of direct connections. The hub-and-spoke is an approach to transportation
that includes the centralization of routes, it decreases the network construction costs, integrate
commodity handling and sorting, and enable transportation providers to use economies of
scale through collecting the flows between network nodes, (Skipper, 2002).
Dry ports or inland ports are locations that provide multiple modes of transportation and
many different services and where trade can be shifted from the local borders. An inland port
supports international operations when customs clearance and International-Trade Zone
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facilities are available. The efforts of the industry to generate more effective supply chains are
supported by dry ports that offer value-added services in addition to trade processing.
Multimodal corridors are now focused on as part of transportation planners’ and policy
makers’ investment strategies. Dry ports provide an opportunity to improve corridor
investment because of their ability to balance truckloads on the highway, air, rail, or water
modes. Finally, inland ports are able to establish local employment, improve corridor
efficiencies, and cut down both private and social costs at border points of entry.
Logistic vital choices involve assigning the position, amount, and types of facilities of a
distribution framework, the client’s decision regarding using these facilities, transport process,
modes choice and trucks courses. All choices essentially influence the logistic aggregation
cost and the client’s benefits and satisfaction.
New ideas have been generated of City Logistics (CL), which define the inland freight flows
inside the city. Its aim is to minimize the damage resulting from the freight transport towards
improving the life quality and urban sustainable transport network. This could be achieved
through finding a platform of City distribution centers (CDC) that might be located in the city
inland dry port or within the city limits. The CDC carries the responsibilities of managing the
process of distribution commodities, controlling traffic, consolidation and even the
coordination and deployment, and running all facilities.
Trucks’ platforms responsible for the definite circulation of freight using different modes of
transportation, for instance, the platforms of trucks are responsible for definite circulation.
Platforms have an awesome effect on viability of freight distribution in urban ranges. Be that
as it may, their utilization in demonstrating a few inadequacies in view of two principle
reasons: their position and the obliged structure of urban territories to conquer the boundaries.
The local level of financial improvement and national strategies have after some time affected
the usefulness of gateways and formed the profile regarding what the individual gateway can
offer as usefulness, (John Merry & Steven Broomhead, 2010). Meanwhile, freight operators
have continued their businesses, which is to give the products required by shops, organizations
and family units at the correct place and the perfect time. Much of the time, they succeed,
however not generally in a good environmental or social way. In expansive urban
communities, one fourth of CO2, 33% of nitrate oxides and half of the particulates that are
emitted by transport are produced by trucks and vehicles. Municipalities, today, must target
cargo transport as one of their needs with a specific end goal to make it more productive and
sustainable.
A methodological foreword will quickly exhibit issues of urban cargo information gathering
and examination and demonstrate the differences of urban cargo circumstances on the planet.
Significant characteristics of urban cargo are then displayed including its ecological effects,
trailed by a depiction of arrangements attempted by urban areas around the globe. Some
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chosen issues are talked about to demonstrate the primary difficulties local governments
confront on urban cargo. Arrangement proposals to local and neighboring governments are
then given as a conclusion, with cases of best practice, (Giuliano et al., 2013).
1.2. Aim and objectives
The aim of this study is to employ the concept of gateways and corridors in order to have a
new role and function; they should be mechanisms for change, which is necessary to promote
the globalization of Alexandria city through strengthening the infrastructure of both a network
of freight transportation corridors and an intercity transportation system.
The study aims at establishing a network of freight corridors through which movement can be
transferred from the gates and distributed to places of flows. These corridors also connect the
city gates with one another to transport goods and people. Through these corridors, the
movement could be directly transferred to places of demand without the need to enter the city
center or the high-density areas. This movement transfer will lessen the pressure on the inner
network, which suffers from high-density congestion. Establishing such a network of
corridors fulfills a number of objectives, such as:
1. Solving the traffic jams and congestion,
2. Enhancing the intercity movement with increasing the possibility of economic
investment and encouraging a lot of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Alexandria
as well as in neighboring cities.
3. Rebalancing the existing development patterns.
4. Orienting the territorial development, finding new land potential, and forming the
spatial policy of Alexandria’s future growth.
5. Empowering Alexandria to be a nodal global city with a multi international connection
and movement corridors of people and commodities, which can connect the city to the
global economy system.
1.3. Definitions: A gateway and a hub’s functions
Gateways and corridors are nodes and links in a movement network; they often consume land
within the context of cities and metropolitan regions. In a globalized world, gateway urban
communities are imperative central points of social and financial advancement, and they get
impressive policy consideration.
Gateway urban communities are transport hubs in the worldwide monetary frameworks that
locate research organizations in front line global development systems and spots drawing in
universal tourism. Parsons et al (2007) propose that gateway is a hub that has a fertile region
on a side of dwellings and business opportunities, and it is the other side of fruitless.