Research Projects

Summary:
The project addresses the critical but often overlooked aspects of delivery drivers’ walking and parking behaviors in urban logistics. With 80% of a delivery driver’s time spent outside the vehicle during the last leg of delivery, comprehending these dynamics becomes pivotal for sustainable urban delivery routes. For the first time, the University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) will work together to address this challenge, with the support of two established logistics companies...

Summary:
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) awarded a new $2 million grant via its SMART (Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation) grant program to fund a collaboration between the Urban Freight Lab, Seattle Department of Transportation, and Open Mobility Foundation to fund curb space digitalization. This project will establish new commercial vehicle permit policies and pilot a digital permit. The aim is to reduce congestion, improve access to the curb, and promote more sustainable forms of urban delivery.

Summary:
With the rise in demand for home deliveries and the boom of the e-bike market in the U.S., cargo cycles are becoming the alternative mode of transporting goods in urban areas. However, many U.S. cities are struggling to decide how to safely integrate this new mode of transportation into the pre-existing urban environment. In response, the Urban Freight Lab is authoring a white paper on how cities can prepare for and promote large-scale adoption of cargo cycle transportation. Sponsors include freight logistics providers, bicycle industry leaders, and agencies Bosch eBike Systems, Fleet Cycles, Gazelle USA, Michelin North America, Inc., Net Zero Logistics, the Seattle Department of Transportation, and Urban Arrow.

Summary:
For this project, two research groups at the University of Washington (the Urban Freight Lab and Lilian Ratliff's research group) will collaborate to integrate different data streams currently being collected separately and in an uncoordinated way, including data from in-ground curb sensors at CVLZs and PLZs, paid parking transactions at paid parking spaces, and data obtained from timelapse camera recordings. The groups will create a holistic framework to analyze not only the curb behaviors of different users but also how different users interact in the competition for limited curb space. The collaboration will advance the state of environmental science by providing the most complete dataset and creating innovative tools to inform policymaking on curb parking pricing and curb allocation to reduce cruising for parking and unauthorized parking events, therefore tackling the climate crisis by reducing urban vehicle emissions and traffic congestion, and the state of data science by developing a new statistical framework and machine learning algorithms to analyze curb space use behaviors from users and develop recommendations for cities on how to better allocate curb space to different competing demands.

Summary:
The Urban Freight in 2030 project will explore emerging urban freight trends, their impacts on local and global sustainable development, and propose Urban Freight Lab’s future course of action. We'll use the expertise of the Urban Freight Lab members and partners, supported by up-to-date research and subject specialists, to create a shared vision of the future of urban delivery in 2030, and produce vision documents to be shared publicly, outlining and detailing the Urban Freight Lab’s vision of the future of urban freight. 

Summary:
This project will build upon a previous Urban Freight Lab study (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy) that was aimed at improving commercial vehicle delivery efficiency generating and providing real-time and future parking information to delivery drivers. In this subsequent study, researchers will build upon the knowledge developed and the existing network of parking occupancy sensors installed in a 10-block study area in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, to explore how historical parking occupancy data can be used by urban planners and policymakers to better allocate curb space to commercial vehicles. We will use data from the sensor network and explore the relationship between the built environment (location and characteristics of establishments and urban form) and the resulting occupancy patterns of commercial vehicle load zones and passenger load zones in the study area.

Summary:
This project seeks to examine how microfreight hubs can increase equity to services, benefit historically marginalized communities, and be joined to share micromobility options, social service agencies and minority businesses in North Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Urban Freight Lab will assist Frontier MPO and the City of Fort Smith in this work create a cohesive strategy to develop a sound planning process, to grow collaborative relationships, to produce a sustainable business model, and to implement a microfreight hub pilot project that leverages community resources.

Summary:
(This project is being conducted under the Urban Freight Lab's (UFL) Technical Assistance Program, where UFL contributes to the project by providing 1:1 match funds in terms of staff and/or research assistants to complete project tasks.) This project focuses on conducting targeted freight industry market research to identify strategies that can support charting a pathway to zero-emission freight strategies for New York City by 2050 and identify the associated roadblocks and barriers to entry. 

Summary:
This project aims to develop a city-scale dynamic curb use simulation tool and an open-source curb management platform. The envisioned simulation and management capabilities will include dynamically and concurrently controlling price, number of spaces, allowed parking duration, time of use or reservation, and curb space use type (e.g., dynamic curb space rezoning based on supply and demand). Researchers will design, implement, and test a curbside resource usage platform for fleet vehicles communications at commercial vehicle load zones (CVLZs), passenger load zones (PLZs), and transit stops, and perform demonstrations with stakeholder agencies and provide pathways to practice for promising curb allocation policies.

Summary:
Through synthesis of existing literature and interviews conducted with private and public stakeholders, this project aims to provide an overview of the barriers to achieving sustainable urban freight. The research will highlight key strategies that can enable sustainable last mile delivery in the urban environment and, importantly, outline the specific roadblocks to carrying out those strategies. This will help companies and public entities form sustainability plans and understand where collaboration between the two sectors in needed.

Summary:
The Urban Freight Lab's Common Microhub project provides an opportunity for members to test and evaluate urban logistics strategies on the ground in Seattle's Uptown neighborhood. As third-party logistics companies enter the last-mile space and more cities commit to environmental focus and zero emission vision, the interest around creating logistics places in urban proximity is growing. The outcomes of this research can guide the development of future microhub implementations in other cities.

Summary:
The City of Seattle granted a permit to United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) in fall 2018 to pilot test a new e-bike parcel delivery system in the Pioneer Square/Belltown area for one year. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) commissioned the Urban Freight Lab (UFL) to quantify and document the public impacts of this multimodal delivery system change in the final 50 feet of supply chains, to provide data and evidence for development of future urban freight policies. The UFL will conduct analyses into the several research questions.

Summary:
The Urban Freight Lab conducted an alley inventory and truck load/unload occupancy study for the City of Seattle. Researchers collected data identifying the locations and infrastructure characteristics of alleys within Seattle's One Center City planning area, which includes the downtown, uptown, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, and First Hill urban centers. The resulting alley database includes GIS coordinates for both ends of each alley, geometric and traffic attributes, and photos.

Summary:
The UFL received $1.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to help goods delivery drivers find parking with minimal circling around, time wasted, and increased congestion. With a coalition of public and private sector partners, researchers will integrate sensor technologies, develop data platforms to process large data streams, and publish a prototype app to let delivery drivers know when a parking space is open – and when it’s predicted to be open so they can plan to arrive when another truck is leaving. The UFL will also pilot test common carrier locker systems in public and private load/unload spaces near transit stops. This is a timely project as cities are looking for new strategies to accommodate the rapid growth of e-commerce.

Summary:
The City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) engaged the Urban Freight Lab to establish a baseline cordon truck and car count for the Greater Downtown area. This research will enable the city to understand much more about the economic sectors served by commercial vehicles that enter and leave the area. When this project is completed, SDOT will be the first major city department of transportation in the nation to develop a database that provides such detailed commercial vehicle use information.