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Urban Freight Lab

Publication Type: Paper

Paper

From the Last Mile to the Last 800 Feet: Key Factors in Urban Pick-Up and Delivery of Goods

 
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2609-10
Publication: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Volume: Freight Systems, Volume 1
Pages: 85-92
Publication Date: 2017
Summary:

Pickup and delivery operations are an essential part of urban goods movements. However, rapid urban growth, increasing demand, and higher customer expectations have amplified the challenges of urban freight movement. In recent years, the industry has emphasized improving last-mile operations with the intent of focusing on what has been described as the last leg of the supply chain. In this paper, it is suggested that solving urban freight challenges requires an even more granular scale than the last mile, that is, the last 800 ft. The necessary operations in the last 800 ft require integration of diverse stakeholders, public and private infrastructure, and a diverse set of infrastructure users with multiple, varied objectives. That complexity has led to a gap in the needs of delivery operations and the characteristics of receiving facilities (i.e., unloading and loading facilities and pickup–drop-off locations). This paper focuses on accessibility for pickup and drop-off operations, taking a closer look at urban goods movement in the last 800 ft from the final customer. The paper presents and analyzes previously documented approaches and measures used to study the challenges at the proposed scale. Finally, it proposes a more holistic approach to address accessibility for urban pickup–delivery operations at the microscale to help develop more comprehensive urban freight transportation planning.

Authors: Polina ButrinaDr. Anne GoodchildGabriela Girón-ValderramaJosé Luis Machado León, Pramod Ayyalasomayajula
Recommended Citation:
Butrina, Polina. Gabriela Del Carmen Girón-Valderrama, José Luis Machado-León, Anne Goodchild, and Pramod C. Ayyalasomayajula. From the Last Mile to the Last 800 ft: Key Factors in Urban Pickup and Delivery of Goods. Transportation Research Record 2609, no. 1 (2017): 85-92. 
Paper

NCFRP Report: Smart Growth and Urban Goods Movement

 
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URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.17226/22522
Publication: TR News
Volume: 295
Publication Date: 2014
Summary:

Smart growth design, a strategy for improving the quality of life in urban areas, has typically focused on the areas of passenger travel, land use and nonmotorized transport adoption. The role of goods movement is often ignored in discussions of smart growth. This article reports on National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) Report 24, which addresses the importance of the relationship between smart growth and goods movement. A number of principles of smart growth are identified, as are areas where there are research gaps. Urban transportation forecasting models have shown that smart-growth land use offers benefits both for passenger travel and goods movement. Additionally, smart-growth improvements to transit and nonmotorized transportation have been found to offer greater benefits to trucks than do roadway investments.

Authors: Dr. Anne GoodchildDr. Ed McCormack, Alon Bassok
Recommended Citation:
McCormack, Ed, Anne Goodchild, and Alon Bassok. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Smart Growth and Urban Goods Movement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/22522.
Paper

A Competitive, Charter Air-Service Planning Model for Student Athlete Travel

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2010.06.002
Publication: Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
Volume: 45 (1)
Pages: 128-149
Publication Date: 2011
Summary:

This paper presents a model for planning an air charter service for pre-scheduled group travel. This model is used to investigate the competitiveness of such an enterprise for student athlete travel in conference sports. The relevant demand subset to be served by a limited charter fleet is identified through a comparison with existing scheduled travel options. Further, the routing and scheduling of the charter aircraft is performed within the same framework. Through this modeling a method for formulating and accommodating continuous time windows and competitive market dynamics in strategic planning for a charter service is developed. Computational improvements to the basic model are also presented and tested. The model is applied to the Big Sky Conference for the 2006–2007 season, quantifying the benefits to the students from such a service and the change in expenditure associated with such a benefit for various assumptions about operations and value of time. The findings indicate the lack of spatial or sport based patterns for maximizing benefit, indicating the absence of simplistic “rules of thumb” for operating such a service, and validating the need for the model.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Gautam Gupta, and Mark Hansen
Recommended Citation:
Gautam Gupta, Anne Goodchild, and Mark Hansen (2011). A Competitive, Charter Air-Service Planning Model for Student Athlete Travel. Transportation Research Part B, 45, 128-149.
Paper

Measuring Truck Travel Time Reliability Using Truck Probe GPS Data

 
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URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/15472450.2014.1000455
Publication: Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems: Technology, Planning, and Operations
Publication Date: 2015
Summary:

Truck probe data collected by global positioning system (GPS) devices has gained increased attention as a source of truck mobility data, including measuring truck travel time reliability. Most reliability studies that apply GPS data are based on travel time observations retrieved from GPS data. The major challenges to using GPS data are small, nonrandom observation sets and low reading frequency. In contrast, using GPS spot speed (instantaneous speed recorded by GPS devices) directly can address these concerns. However, a recently introduced GPS spot-speed-based reliability metric that uses speed distribution does not provide a numerical value that would allow for a quantitative evaluation. In light of this, the research described in this article improves the current GPS spot speed distribution-based reliability approach by calculating the speed distribution coefficient of variation. An empirical investigation of truck travel time reliability on Interstate 5 in Seattle, WA, is performed. In addition, correlations are provided between the improved approach and a number of commonly used reliability measures. The reliability measures are not highly correlated, demonstrating that different measures provide different conclusions for the same underlying data and traffic conditions. The advantages and disadvantages of each measure are discussed and recommendations of the appropriate measures for different applications are presented.

Authors: Dr. Anne GoodchildDr. Ed McCormack, Zun Wang
Recommended Citation:
Wang, Zun. Anne Goodchild, and Edward McCormack. "Measuring truck travel time reliability using truck probe GPS data." Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems 20, no. 2 (2016): 103-112.
Paper

Intra-Industry Trade Analysis of U.S. State – Canadian Province Pairs: Implications for the Cost of Border Delay

URL: https://doi.org/10.3141/2162-09
Publication: Transportation Research Record
Volume: 2162
Pages: 73-80
Publication Date: 2010
Summary:

Intra-industry trade (IIT) occurs when trading partners import and export similar products. A high volume of IIT of horizontally differentiated goods implies a deep level of regional integration, stable regional trading patterns, and potentially significant consequences from border delay. In this paper, trade between Washington State and British Columbia, Canada (the Cascade gateway), is compared with trade between Michigan State and Ontario, Canada (the Great Lakes gateway). The Grubel-Lloyd index, which measures IIT, is used to analyze trade in these two corridors. Higher levels of IIT and regional integration within the Great Lakes gateway are shown. The paper argues that cross-border supply chains most exposed to higher cost from increasing border delays are composed of horizontally differentiated manufactured goods having high levels of IIT and relying heavily on truck transportation. These types of goods are more common in the Great Lakes gateway, and this region may therefore experience greater economic impacts from long and unpredictable delays than the Cascade gateway.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Kristján Kristjánsson, Michael Bomba
Recommended Citation:
Kristjánsson, Kristján Árni, Michael Bomba, and Anne V. Goodchild. "Intra-industry trade analysis of US state–Canadian province pairs: implications for the cost of border delay." Transportation Research Record 2162, no. 1 (2010): 73-80. 
Paper

4D Flight Trajectory Prediction using a Hybrid Deep Learning Prediction Method Based on ADS-B Technology: A Case Study of Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

 
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URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2022.103878
Publication: Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Volume: 144
Publication Date: 2022
Summary:

At the core of any flight schedule is the four dimensional (4D) trajectories which are comprised of three spatial dimensions with time added as the fourth dimension. Each trajectory contains spatial and temporal features that are associated with uncertainties that make the prediction process complex. Because of the increasing demand for air transportation, airports and airlines must have optimized schedules to best use the airports’ infrastructure potential. This is possible using advanced trajectory prediction methods. This paper proposes a novel hybrid deep learning model to extract spatial and temporal features considering the uncertainty for Hartsfield–Jackson

Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS–B) with a vast amount of spatial and temporal flight attribute data, are used in this paper as input to the models. This research is conducted in three steps: (a) data preprocessing; (b) prediction by a hybrid Convolutional Neural Network and Gated Recurrent Unit (CNN-GRU) along with a three dimensional (3D-CNN) model; (c) The third and last step is the comparison of the model’s performance with the proposed model by examining the experimental results. The deep model uncertainty is considered using Mont-Carlo dropout (MC-Dropout). Mont-Carlo dropouts are added

to the network layers to enhance the model’s prediction performance by a robust approach of switching off between different neurons. The results show that the proposed model has low error measurements compared to the other models (i.e., 3D CNN, CNN-GRU). The model with MCdropout reduces the error further by an average of 21 %.

Authors: Amelia Regan, Hesam Shafienya
Recommended Citation:
Shafienya, H., & Regan, A. C. (2022). 4D flight trajectory prediction using a hybrid Deep Learning prediction method based on ADS-B technology: A case study of Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 144, 103878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2022.103878
Paper

The Automated Driver as a New Road User

 
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URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2020.1861124
Publication: Transport Reviews
Pages: 23-Jan
Publication Date: 2020
Summary:

Although road infrastructure has been designed to accommodate human drivers’ physiology and psychology for over a century, human error has always been the main cause of traffic accidents. Consequently, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have been developed to mitigate human shortcomings. These automated functions are becoming more sophisticated allowing for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) to drive under an increasing number of road conditions. Due to this evolution, a new automated road user has become increasingly relevant for both road owners and the vehicle industry alike. While this automated driver is currently operating on roads designed for human drivers, in the future, infrastructure policies may be designed specifically to accommodate automated drivers. However, the current literature on ADSs does not cover all driving processes. A unified framework for human and automated driver, covering all driving processes, is therefore presented. The unified driving framework, based on theoretical models of human driving and robotics, highlights the importance of sensory input in all driving processes. How human and automated drivers sense their environment is therefore compared to uncover differences between the two road users relevant to adapt road design and maintenance to include the automated driver. The main differences identified between human and automated drivers are that (1) the automated driver has a much greater range of electromagnetic sensitivity and larger field of view, and (2) that the two road users interpret sensory input in different ways. Based on these findings, future research directions for road design and maintenance are suggested.

Authors: Dr. Ed McCormack, Ane Dalsnes Storsaeter, Kelly Pitera
Recommended Citation:
Storsæter, A. D., Pitera, K., & McCormack, E. D. (2020). The automated driver as a new road user. Transport Reviews, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2020.1861124
Paper

GPS Truck Data Performance Measures Program in Washington State

 
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URL: https://wadot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/B7A5D60C-BF99-412F-9444-BA513768DC93/0/TPMFinalreportver2_17June2011.pdf
Publication: Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC)
Publication Date: 2011
Summary:

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Transportation Northwest at the University of Washington (UW), and the Washington Trucking Associations (WTA) have partnered on a research effort to collect and analyze global positioning systems (GPS) truck data from commercial, invehicle, truck fleet management systems. This effort was funded by the Washington State Legislature, and its purpose is to develop a statewide freight performance measures program for use by WSDOT. This document reviews the program’s previous phases and provides details about the latest phase of the program. The report also provides references to the technical documents that support the program.

Authors: Dr. Ed McCormack, Wenjuan Zhao
Recommended Citation:
McCormack, E. D., Zhao, W., & Tabat, D. (2011). GPS Truck Data Performance Measures Program in Washington State. Washington State Department of Transportation, Office of Research.
Paper

Developing Design Guidelines for Commercial Vehicle Envelopes on Urban Streets (Paper)

 
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2495/TDI-V3-N2-132-143
Publication: International Journal of Transport Development and Integration
Volume: 3:02
Pages: 132 - 143
Publication Date: 2019
Summary:

Commercial heavy vehicles using urban curbside loading zones are not typically provided with an envelope, or space adjacent to the vehicle, allocated for loading and unloading activities. While completing loading and unloading activities, couriers are required to walk around the vehicle, extend ramps and handling equipment and maneuver goods; these activities require space around the vehicle. But the unique space needs of delivery trucks are not commonly acknowledged by or incorporated into current urban design practices in either North America or Europe. Because of this lack of a truck envelope, couriers of commercial vehicles are observed using pedestrian pathways and bicycling infrastructure for unloading activities, as well as walking in traffic lanes. These actions put them and other road users in direct conflict and potentially in harm’s way.

This article presents our research to improve our understanding of curb space and delivery needs in urban areas. The research approach involved the observation of delivery operations to determine vehicle type, loading actions, door locations and accessories used. Once common practices had been identified by observing 25 deliveries, simulated loading activities were measured to quantify different types of loading space requirements around commercial vehicles. This resulted in a robust measurement of the operating envelope required to reduce conflicts between truck loading and unloading activities with adjacent pedestrian, bicycle, and motor vehicle activities. From these results, commercial loading zone design recommendations can be developed that will allow our urban street system to operate more efficiently, safely and reliably for all users.

Authors: Dr. Ed McCormackDr. Anne GoodchildManali Sheth, David Hurwitz
Recommended Citation:
McCormack, Edward, Anne Goodchild, Manali Sheth, and David Hurwitz. Developing Design Guidelines for Commercial Vehicle Envelopes on Urban Streets. International Journal of Transport Development and Integration, 3(2), 132–143. https://doi.org/10.2495/TDI-V3-N2-132-143
Paper

Smart Growth and Goods Movement: Emerging Research Agendas

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2013.875058
Publication: Journal Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability
Volume: 2-Aug
Pages: 115-132
Publication Date: 2015
Summary:

While recent urban planning efforts have focused on the management of growth into developed areas, the research community has not examined the impacts of these development patterns on urban goods movement. Successful implementation of growth strategies has multiple environmental and social benefits but also raises the demand for intra-urban goods movement, potentially increasing conflicts between modes of travel and worsening air quality. Because urban goods movement is critical for economic vitality, understanding the relation between smart growth and goods movement is necessary in the development of appropriate policies.

This paper reviews the academic literature and summarizes the results of six focus groups to identify gaps in the state of knowledge and suggest important future research topics in five sub-areas of smart growth related to goods movement: (1) access, parking, and loading zones; (2) road channelization and bicycle and pedestrian facilities; (3) land use; (4) logistics; and (5) network system management.

Authors: Dr. Anne GoodchildDr. Ed McCormack, Erica Wygonik, Alon Bassok, Daniel Carlson
Recommended Citation:
Wygonik, Erica, Alon Bassok, Anne Goodchild, Edward McCormack, and Daniel Carlson. "Smart Growth and Goods Movement: Emerging Research Agendas." Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability 8, no. 2 (2015): 115-132.