The Urban Freight Lab developed the Goods Delivery System Toolkit as a comprehensive resource for cities and transportation agencies grappling with the surging demand for last-mile delivery services and limited infrastructure. This Toolkit builds upon established data collection methodologies and enables other cities to replicate similar studies and develop foundational knowledge in various key areas, including urban planning, parking management, emergency response, regulation, and modeling future scenarios.
All tools in the Toolkit are intended to be open access resources, readily available for reading, downloading, copying, and distribution, ensuring that cities and agencies can easily utilize and leverage them.
The Toolkit encompasses a range of comprehensive step-by-step tools:
Curb Occupancy Toolkit
Tools for conducting a study on parking behavior of commercial vehicles along the block face and in commercial vehicle loading zones. Insights are drawn from the Urban Freight Lab’s curb occupancy study in Seattle’s Greater Downtown.
Alley Occupancy Toolkit
Alley Occupancy Toolkit: Tools for documenting commercial vehicle occupancy of alleys, providing insights into usage patterns such as parking duration, vacancy intervals, and types of vehicles using the alley space. This is particularly useful, as alley design and functionality directly influence how commercial operators utilize these spaces.
Private Loading Infrastructure Inventory Toolkit
Tools for mapping locations of private loading docks, loading bays, and commercial vehicle loading areas. The methodologies are designed to create both a Geographical Information System (GIS) map and an inventory catalog detailing key physical attributes of these facilities.
Alley Infrastructure Inventory Toolkit
Tools to create and utilize a GIS database for mapping the geospatial coordinates of alleys and recording their physical attributes. This information is needed for operational functionality and is critical for first responders for navigation and emergency response.
Contact:
Kelly Rula
Director of Policy and Partnerships, Urban Freight Lab
krula@uw.edu
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About the Urban Freight Lab (UFL): An innovative public-private partnership housed at the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center at the University of Washington, the Urban Freight Lab is a structured workgroup that brings together private industry with City transportation officials to design and test solutions around urban freight management.