News and Announcements

The Urban Freight Lab has been selected as one of 25 winners of the Communities Taking Charge Accelerator, an initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) & U.S. Department of Transportation’s Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Our project focuses on: How can the electrification of shared parking lots and establishment of logistics microhubs support sustainable and equitable last-mile delivery systems?

Congratulations to both Travis Fried and Sarah Dennis-Bauer for being awarded CUTC - Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) Outstanding Student of the Year, both for Road Mode! Each year, U.S. Department of Transportation-funded University Transportation Research Centers each selects one student to receive this prestigious award, which is presented at the CUTC banquet during the TRB Annual meeting in January.

The Urban Freight Lab has been awarded a grant from the Health Effects Institute (HEI) to study the effects of ecommerce-driven freight and warehousing operations on air quality and public health in historically marginalized communities.

The Urban Freight Lab has completed a series of interviews with carriers to explore how a zero-emission delivery zone (ZEDZ) in downtown Portland could impact their operations. This work is part of the Portland Bureau of Transportation's Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) has launched an innovative research project to tackle food insecurity in Seattle by creating a decentralized network of community-operated micro food pantries. Supported by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Civic Innovation Challenge, this project brings together a diverse group of collaborators, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and local organizations.

October 3, 2024 — The Urban Freight Lab has kicked off of a new research project, Balancing Freight and Goods Delivery Needs in Designing Complete Streets. Funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), this work will develop national guidelines to help cities design and build Complete Streets policies that integrate freight operations.

Since launching in 2016, the Urban Freight Lab has been at the forefront of testing innovative solutions within Seattle’s urban environment. With the support of the City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and private sector members spanning retail, technology, manufacturing, real estate, and shipping, the Urban Freight Lab (UFL) has led groundbreaking initiatives aimed at addressing curb management, congestion, and improving safety and equity on city streets.

December 15, 2023 — A new first-of-a-kind study titled Ecommerce and Environmental Justice in Metro Seattle written by Urban Freight Lab researchers sheds light on disparities in delivery-related air pollution affecting neighborhoods near Amazon's last-mile facilities in the Seattle metropolitan area. The study reveals an imbalance between those benefitting from online shopping and those affected by its environmental impact.

The Urban Freight Lab announces the release of a new white paper, Biking the Goods: How North American Cities Can Prepare for and Promote Large-Scale Adoption of E-Cargo Bikes.

March 15, 2023 — Urban Freight Lab researchers Anne Goodchild, Dr. Giacomo Dalla Chiara, Rishi Verma, Kelly Rula have published a new report on Analysis of Online Shopping and Shopping Travel Behaviors in West Seattle, exploring consumer shopping behavior (both online and in-person) in West Seattle during the closure of the High Bridge (the connection between the West Seattle peninsula and the rest of the city) due to structural deterioration.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) program has awarded a $2 million grant support the development of the Last-Mile Freight Curb Access Program: Digitizing the Last Mile of Urban Goods to Improve Curb Access and Utilization, a cross-sectoral collaboration between the Urban Freight Lab and Open Mobility Foundation, and led by the Seattle Department of Transportation.

March 17, 2023 — New Urban Freight Lab paper "Do Parcel Lockers Reduce Delivery Times? Evidence from the Field" published in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review shows that using lockers for parcel delivery can decrease in-building delivery time by a significant 50-60%.

March 9, 2023 — Urban Freight Lab researchers José Machado, Gabriela Girón-Valderrama, Anne Goodchild, and Ed McCormack have published a new report on Supporting Comprehensive Urban Freight Planning by Mapping Private Load and Unload Facilities — the first urban inventory of private load and unload infrastructure and a demonstrated valuable resource for the City of Seattle to better understand and plan for the urban freight system.

December 21, 2022 — The Urban Freight Lab is cited as a model for stakeholder engagement in New York City's Delivering the Goods: NYC Urban Freight in the Age of Ecommerce, authored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA)Freight and Logistics Working Group as a blueprint for an efficient, equitable, and sustainable goods movement system that benefits the entire city.

February 1, 2023 — How cities and companies shape urban delivery in the coming decade will have important implications for businesses and communities. In January 2022, we launched the Urban Freight 2030 Project to create a collective vision for the urban freight system over the next decade.