Freight and the City

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Strategies (rather than construction of more infrastructure) that can help you mitigate the effects of trucks on city streets
• How to make the city a more livable place by picking the right programs for improving truck entry in your city
• How effective parking and loading management can accommodate the growing demand for truck deliveries while keeping streets safe and efficient for everyone

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Moving freight is the ultimate visualization of the economy at work. But for cities this means having to deal with trucks and their challenges. Although the number of truck deliveries is on the rise, the available infrastructure, especially in dense downtown areas, is fixed. The expected increase of truck deliveries will lead to more congestion, worse air quality and public health, and higher risks for vulnerable road users — unless planners tackle the challenges associated with trucks. Planners can find solutions in design, policy, and technology. New York City has a program to stimulate off-hour deliveries to relieve pressure on daytime traffic. The Hunts Point Clean Trucks Program has already led to replacing, retrofitting or scrapping more than 600 older heavy-polluting diesel trucks from the South Bronx and the city. The City of Seattle is evaluating new pricing, permitting, and technology strategies to better manage commercial-vehicle load zones. Effective parking and loading management can help accommodate the growing demand for curbspace combined with redesign of street layout. Denial of freight movement only leads to bigger problems; although nobody want trucks in their streets, everybody wants to be served by them, continuously. Learn how these two programs are addressing these issues.