Background
The constant movement of goods and services is required for the functionality of any city as it is critical for meeting the needs of every individual, household, and business in Portland. Nearly every item in your home, favorite restaurant, or favorite store, has been delivered by urban freight movement.
This movement relies on the adequate infrastructure supply to support their operations from the road network to the load/unload infrastructure. However, population growth, the rise of e-commerce, and increased competition for public space have exacerbated the challenges for commercial vehicles traveling through our city streets.
The 2040Freight is a planning effort to develop solutions and strategies to address the unique needs and impacts of urban freight movement for the next 20 years.
2040Freight Plan Vision
We envision Portland as a vibrant city and thriving economy that connects people, goods, and services within Portland, and to regional, national, and international markets. Our vision for the future advances a safe, equitable, efficient, and sustainable urban freight movement that enhances the quality of life for all Portlanders.
What is Urban Freight Movement?
Urban Freight Movement is the distribution of commercial items ("goods") to, from, and through the city. In an urban area such as Portland, freight moves by all modes of transportation including marine, air, rail, heavy and medium-heavy trucks, vans, bikes and hand carts. Examples of urban freight include fresh produce, bulk products, electronics, home goods, medical supplies, construction materials, and fuel.
About 2040Freight
The 2040 Portland Freight Plan (2040Freight) is an update of the City’s 2006 Freight Master Plan. This plan will provide a strategic road map for investing in urban freight infrastructure in Portland. The Plan will develop strategies, city programs, and projects to support this movement in ways that advance Vision Zero, recognize trends in the supply and distribution of goods, and anticipate Portland’s population growth.
Guiding Principles
In line with PBOT's Strategic Plan, the 2040Freight planning process will work to achieve outcomes that support the City’s long-term objectives for managing urban freight movement.
Therefore, this planning process is guided by two fundamental questions from the PBOT Strategic Plan:
(1) Will it advance equity and address structural racism?
(2) Will it reduce carbon emissions?
Planning Process
The 2040Freight Plan will provide a strategic road map for addressing the unique needs and impacts of urban freight movement in Portland. The Plan will develop strategies, actions, and projects to support this movement in ways that advance Vision Zero, recognize trends in the supply and distribution of goods, and anticipate Portland’s population growth.
Key Themes
2040Freight is focusing on addressing the following themes:
- Access: Provide and improve access for freight vehicles to key freight destinations (including access to the curb or other loading, unloading, and parking spaces).
- Economic Vitality: Foster a thriving and competitive economy, and employment growth for Portland and the region's industrial districts, businesses, and communities.
- Environment: Strive for environmental sustainability of urban goods movement to preserve resources, reduce diesel and climate pollution, minimize noise, and foster healthy communities.
- Maintenance: Maintain and repair roads and bridges on the citywide freight network.
- Mobility: Promote efficient movement of goods to, from, and within the city.
- Racial Equity: Support and propose freight investments that address historic racial, social, environmental and economic injustice suffered by communities of color, including fostering the physical, mental, and social well-being of communities living and working in Portland.
- Resilience: Reduce the risk and improve the ability of the freight network to withstand a disruption (e.g., natural disaster, fuel supply disruptions and crashes on critical freight routes).
- Safety: Improve the safety of freight movement to decrease impacts to people walking, riding bicycles, using mobility devices, and driving automobiles and commercial vehicles through infrastructure investments.
Planning Process
The items below outline the steps PBOT is carrying out as part of the 2040Freight planning process.
- Public Involvement: Staff will engage community members and stakeholders in a variety of ways throughout the planning process.
- State of the System Report: The State of the System Report will include a look at the impacts of COVID-19 on freight, an analysis of issues of Portland demographics, equity, environmental justice and freight, a look back at our 2006 Freight Master Plan to see what we’ve accomplished since then, a look at existing conditions and future conditions from transportation modeling, and research on the rise of e-commerce.
- Policy, Plan + Program Review: This Review looks at policies already established by the city, state and region related to our plan, and forms the beginning of our plan vision, goals, and objectives, which will be further defined by community engagement.
- Needs, Conflicts + Opportunities Identification: Staff will work with community members and stakeholders to help identify needs, conflicts, and opportunities in our freight system.
- Develop + Evaluate Solutions: Staff will initiate an iterative process of community engagement and accompanying technical work to develop and evaluate solutions, which will be both projects and policies that will help shape the 2040Freight Plan.
- Implementation Strategy: The Implementation Strategy will help ensure PBOT achieves 2040Freight’s goals and objectives over the next 20 years into the year 2040.
Advisory Bodies
The 2040Freight Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) are the primary advisory bodies to the Plan.
The CAC is made up of communities impacted by freight, leaders in the freight industry, and climate leaders. 2040Freight's TAC is made up of staff from different PBOT divisions from engineering to parking, as well as liaisons from different bureaus, such as the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and liaisons from partner agencies such as Metro, Multnomah County, ODOT, and the Port of Portland. Both committees advise the PBOT director and staff on the 2040Freight planning process.
The Portland Freight Committee (PFC), which is made up of business and industry representatives also provides feedback and guidance on the 2040Freight planning process.
Completed Reports
The 2040Freight Plan will consist of multiple supporting documents that are being developed throughout the planning process. These reports and analyses will form the final Plan. Click here to view the reports.