ALLENTOWN Ask any planning expert their thoughtson the next big issue to hit the Lehigh Valley and you might hear answers such as the lossof open space, affordablehousing or maybe even global warming.

Yet Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Becky Bradley has an answer that might surprise people: trucks.With a new planningcommission study predicting truck traffic will double in the next two decades, planners last week unanimously agreed tocreate a Freight Movement Advisory Board. Modeled after similar boards in Seattle, Atlanta and Philadelphia, it would consist of transportation, warehouse and freight professionals who can help prevent the Valley from being overwhelmed by trucks as its economy shifts to e-commerce, warehousing and distribution."This will be the biggestchallenge, both positive andnegative, we face over the next 20 years," Bradley said. "It willnip at our quality of life while providing tremendous jobopportunity."That challenge is detailed in the planning commission's recently released freight study, which predicts an increase in the total tonnage of goods traveling through the Valley from 40 billion tons in 2011 to more than 80billion in 2040.Perhaps more alarming is that 90 percent of that is moving by truck, with the remainder coming by rail and airplane. The national average for percentage of goods moved by truck is under 70 percent, according to state Department of Transportation planner Christopher Walston.Why is the movement ofValley goods so skewed toward trucks? Blame it on all those warehouses and distribution centers popping up along the region's busiest highways."In the past, rail traffic has been as reliable as truck, but in today's immediate delivery cycle, people want next-day delivery for their e-commerce purchases," said Bill Wolf, executive vice president with real estate brokerage firm CBRE's global supply group. "Most of that's got to be done by truck. There's no getting around that."With its extensive network of highways, including Route 22, Interstate 78 and Route 33, and its location at the heart of the Northeast, the Valley has become one of the nation's fastest-growing regions for warehouse and distribution developments.What was 12 million square feet of warehouse and distribution center space in the Lehigh Valley two decades ago is now more than 40 million, as the likes of Nestle, Target, Crayola and Walmart have filled industrial parks and lined highways with million-square-foot warehouses. And that number is increasing fast as companies such as FedEx Ground look to build distribution centers designed to get people their purchased goods in less than two days.All of that figures into the planning commission's projections for the future.The advisory board will be filled with not only local planners, but also members of the trucking, warehouse, rail and aviation industry. As in other cities that serve as hubs for the movement of goods, the board will meet quarterly and give recommendations to the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study the local planning commission arm that decides how to allocate roughly $100 million a year for road, bridge and transit projects. The advisory board's decision won't be binding, but it will be lending expertise that the planning commission doesn't possess, Bradley said.For example, the board may be able to recommend the truck routes where money should be invested, the bridges that are likely to see the biggest increases in truck traffic and perhaps which areas should be restricted from further warehouse development.Its focus will be on more than just trucks and roads. For example, an inland port is being planned for south Bethlehem, said Pat Sabatino, manager of Lehigh Valley Rail Management, which runs the Norfolk Southern intermodal center in Bethlehem.The port would allow containers coming through East Coast ports to be taken by rail directly into Bethlehem, where they would go through a U.S. Customs station before continuing to their destination. The port could help keep some of the goods on the rails rather than highways."The planning commission looks at these kinds of issues from 30,000 feet," Sabatino said. "An advisory board will take a very street level look at things."Bradley said planning commission officials will soon meet with Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission officials to discuss how its Goods Movement Task Force works. From there, members will be recruited to serve on the Valley advisory board."I'm hoping that our new board can have their first meeting by September," Bradley said. "If we don't get ahead of this, we're doomed."