Project overview
In spring 2023, PBOT was awarded nearly $2 million as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants program for a proposal to pilot a Zero-Emission Delivery Zone and test digital infrastructure tools. With this project, Portland will become the first U.S. city to pilot implementation of a regulated Zero-Emission Delivery Zone.
This project will test a variety of regulatory- and incentive-based interventions to promote sustainable freight and create safer streets in Portland. The project has three primary objectives to help reach this goal:
- Pilot a regulated Zero-Emission Delivery Zone;
- Use data and technology to better understand how people and different types of vehicles use commercial loading zones and city streets; and
- Increase micro-delivery hub operations and expand the use of electric-cargo tricycles (e-cargo trikes) as a “last-mile” delivery solution. A micro-delivery hub is a central location, like a small warehouse, that stores goods to create easier delivery within a smaller service area.
This 21-month pilot project will trial changing the regulations of several existing, commercial truck loading zones in a small area of downtown Portland. This change will allow only commercial zero-emission vehicles to park in the designated zero-emission loading zones for the duration of the six-month demonstration period. The loading zone selection has not yet been finalized. The proposed loading zones identified in the grant application are outside of three government buildings — the Portland Building, the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse, and the Multnomah County Courthouse — making the Zero-Emission Delivery Zone anchored by public sector institutions, all of which ahve strong commitments to taking climate action.
At the same time, PBOT will also use federal grant funds to incentivize the movement of “clean goods” by partnering with an existing logistics company where diesel and gas-powered delivery trucks can opt-into transferring goods to smaller zero-emission delivery vehicles — such as local fleets of electric-assist cargo trikes, electric vehicles, or electric trucks — for deliveries at the “Zero-Emission Delivery” loading zones. While many freight companies have pledged to become carbon neutral in the coming decades, a high percentage of the commercial fleet still relies on fossil fuels at this time. Thus, delivery vehicles that still use fossil fuels will continue to be able to travel into and through the pilot project area, park in regular metered spaces, use on-site loading bays, or park nearby at existing truck loading zones outside of the pilot project area.
PBOT will then evaluate the impact of the Zero-Emission Delivery Zone from several data sources. This includes data from logistics companies, sensors, and third-party analytics companies. Depending on outcomes from this pilot project, PBOT will have the opportunity to apply for a Stage 2 implementation grant for up to $15 million. A Stage 2 grant could further refine or scale promising strategies identified in the initial pilot project. The two stages of the SMART grant program are unique in that they allow the City of Portland to test several strategies on a small scale before exploring any larger-scale implementation.
All of this work is in service to our city’s values around climate: a safer, cleaner, and more equitable system for delivering goods and services.
Timeline
The project kicked off project planning and development in September 2023.
The project team aims to launch the demonstration project and temporarily change loading zone usage within the selected project area in August 2024 at the earliest. Prior to that, PBOT staff and partners will be engaging in outreach through hosting focus groups, surveying and interviewing both local businesses and freight and goods movement companies, gathering data on current usage of loading zones in the proposed project area and selecting sensors. All of this work will result in a final selection of loading zones to temporarily designate as for zero-emission delivery vehicle use only and drawing a final boundary for the regulated Zero-Emission Delivery Zone.
The Zero-Emission Delivery Zone, and zero-emission loading zones within it, will be tested for approximately six months as the City collects data, prepares preliminary findings, and presents a pilot project report with recommended next steps. Based on the lessons learned from this pilot project, PBOT may then apply for a Stage Two SMART grant for up to $15 million to scale up portions of the pilot project and implement them in new areas of the city.
Project partners
PBOT submitted this grant in collaboration with the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF) and a collective of eight cities and counties, all focused on using digital curb information to reduce congestion, enhance livability, and improve safety and equity on local streets. The members of the collaborative who all received SMART grants include the cities of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Miami-Dade County.
Local partners coming soon!
Project outcomes
Through this pilot project to test a Zero-Emission Delivery Zone, PBOT staff aims to test strategies that may have positive outcomes on the environment, public health, traffic safety, and curb management.
Environmental
In 2020, Portland City Council declared a climate emergency and set a goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Transportation accounts for nearly 40% of the carbon emissions in the Portland area. Although trucks represent less than 5% of the vehicle fleet, they generate 24% of all transportation-related carbon emissions. This project directly responds to the Climate Emergency Declaration and the subsequent Climate Emergency Workplan that named “make freight cleaner” as one of its nine transportation sector decarbonization priorities.
Public health
Nearly 40% of Portlanders who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color live within 1.2 miles of the city’s biggest sources of air pollution such as freeways and industrial facilities. This exposure increases vulnerability to chronic health conditions like cardiovascular damage, asthma, and more. An effective Zero-Emission Delivery Zone and other clean freight solutions begin to reduce nearby air pollution, bringing direct health benefits to those neighborhoods, while also providing economic opportunities for zero-emission carriers.
Traffic Safety
As with most cities in the U.S., urban deliveries in Portland are primarily done by vans and trucks. With an increase in demand for e-commerce (and same-day delivery), we’ve seen more frequent, shorter trips taken by vans and trucks. This means more delivery vehicles on streets not designed for the increase on commercial vehicle volume. It also means growing concerns for the environment, safety, and infrastructure maintenance. According to the 2040 Portland Freight report, there were 2,267 collisions involving trucks between 2014 and 2018 (4% of all Portland collisions) with 3.3% of those fatal or involving serious injuries. This study identified Portland’s downtown core as one of the areas with the highest concentration of collisions involving trucks. Although the absolute number of such crashes is much lower than for general motor vehicle traffic, truck-involved crashes are more likely to involve fatalities and serious injuries.
Curb Management
The increase on e-commerce deliveries has exacerbated the demand for parking, loading, and unloading of commercial vehicles that many municipalities are already experiencing. Parked and double-parked trucks are a major contributor to urban congestion and the obstruction of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, along with trucks and delivery vans idling and emitting pollutants and GHGs.
Improvements in the ability of commercial vehicles to find adequate parking, particularly in dense areas, could potentially yield significant pollution reduction benefits. Increased availability of commercial vehicle parking would reduce commercial vehicles circling to find a spot, or parking in a travel lane or illegal space and causing congestion and safety conflicts. Finally, incentivizing mode shift to smaller size commercial vehicles help reduce mode conflicts with vulnerable users during the loading, unloading and parking operations.