The Urban Freight Lab developed the Goods Delivery System Toolkit to serve as a comprehensive resource addressing the challenges cities and transportation agencies grappling with due to the surging demand for last-mile delivery services alongside constrained infrastructure. This Toolkit leverages established data collection methods and enables other cities to emulate similar studies and develop foundational knowledge across key areas like urban planning, parking management, emergency response, regulation, and modeling future scenarios.
All tools within this Toolkit are designed to be openly accessible resources, allowing for reading, downloading, citing, copying, and distribution, enabling cities and agencies to readily utilize and benefit from them.
The Toolkit encompasses a range of comprehensive step-by-step tools:
Curb Occupancy Toolkit
The Curb Occupancy Toolkit provides resources for studying the parking behavior of commercial vehicles both along the block face and within commercial vehicle loading zones. These insights are drawn from the Urban Freight Lab’s analysis of curb occupancy in Seattle’s Greater Downtown.
Alley Occupancy Toolkit
The Alley Occupancy Toolkit offers tools designed to document commercial vehicle occupancy within alleys. This analysis provides valuable insights into usage patterns like parking duration, vacancy interval periods, and types of vehicles utilizing the alley space. This Toolkit is particularly beneficial, as alley design and functionality directly impact how commercial operators make use of these spaces.
Private Loading Infrastructure Inventory Toolkit
The Private Loading Infrastructure Inventory Toolkit is designed for mapping locations and positions of private loading docks, loading bays, and commercial vehicle loading areas. The methodologies within this Tookit aim to generate both a Geographical Information System (GIS) map and a comprehensive inventory catalog outlining the key physical characteristics of these facilities.
Alley Infrastructure Inventory Toolkit
The Alley Infrastructure Inventory Toolkit offers tools for establishing and utilizing a GIS database, specifically for mapping the geographical coordinates of alleys and documenting their physical attributes. This data is essential for operational purposes and is critical for first responders for navigation and facilitating emergency response efforts.