Research Projects

Summary:
This project evaluates the impact of pedestrianization at Pike Place Market on vendors and delivery access, and analyzes how nearby traffic patterns change under the Market’s Vehicle Access Pilot.

Summary:
This project studies delivery drivers’ walking and parking behavior in urban logistics, where much of last-mile delivery happens outside the vehicle. A collaboration between the Urban Freight Lab and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the goal is to model these behaviors and evaluate solutions like e-carts and improved parking strategies to support more efficient and sustainable urban delivery.

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:
This project brings together multiple data sources to better understand how different users interact with the curb, one of the most contested spaces in cities today. By combining perspectives on freight, passenger parking, and emerging mobility uses, it aims to develop new tools to help cities manage curb space more effectively.

Summary:
The Urban Freight in 2030 project explores emerging trends shaping urban freight and their implications for sustainable development. Drawing on the expertise of Urban Freight Lab members, partners, researchers, and subject matter experts, the project develops a shared vision for the future of urban delivery. The resulting vision documents outline key opportunities, challenges, and strategic priorities for urban freight systems through 2030.

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:
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.