Project overview
The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) awarded the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) a nearly $2 million Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grant in Fall 2023. This project piloted the country’s first regulated ZEDZ that relied on parking permits to encourage the transition of commercial fleets to zero-emission vehicles in downtown Portland and tested digital infrastructure tools. This project explored an innovative set of incentives and regulations to better understand what technology and strategies municipalities can use to support and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the freight sector.
While other cities in the United States have piloted voluntary Zero-Emission Delivery Zones (ZEDZs) to encourage the transition of commercial fleets to zero-emission modes, Portland was the first U.S. city to pilot a regulated ZEDZ that relied on parking permits. The regulated ZEDZ was active for six months between September 19, 2024 and March 19, 2025. During this temporary demonstration period, the parking rules for all truck loading zones within the project area were changed to prioritize access for zero-emission vehicles only (see Figure 1). Loading zones within the ZEDZ were monitored by parking sensors, both before and after the six-month long demonstration period, allowing project staff to better understand the impact of this regulation. These loading zones were referred to as Zero-Emission Delivery Zones.
This pilot project also tested a variety of partnerships and incentives to accelerate the movement of “clean goods,” or goods with fewer negative impacts to health and the environment. This included diverting existing deliveries into the ZEDZ to local fleets of electric-assist cargo trikes and electric vehicles, vans and trucks, and supporting local delivery companies in transitioning their own fleets to zero-emission modes.
When did this happen?
The project kicked off project planning and development in September 2023. The regulated Zero-Emission Delivery Zone was active from September 19, 2024 to March 19, 2025. Prior to launching the demonstration project PBOT staff and partners:
- Convened focus groups;
- Surveyed and interviewed local stakeholders;
- Gathered data on current loading zone use;
- Selected sensors; and
- Finalized loading zone site selection.
Truck loading zones within the ZEDZ were reprioritized for zero-emission commercial vehicles for the six-month demonstration period as the City collected data, tested incentives, and worked with stakeholders to understand challenges and opportunities of curb management through electrification. At the end of the pilot project, the City prepared a final report with key findings and recommended next steps.
Public involvement to date
Public involvement was key to a successful ZEDZ pilot project. PBOT committed to sharing information and gathering input regarding the needs, issues, concerns, and opportunities of the public, stakeholders, and affected parties related to this planning effort.
The public involvement goals included:
- Engaging people in non-traditional, non-elite, and community-trusted places.
- Seeking to establish non-transactional relationships with people, communities, and businesses.
- Being intentional about how resources are spent.
- Intentionally placing new, emerging, and disenfranchised community organizations and voices on a level playing field with more traditional community power structures
- Valuing all types of information and data.
- Being clear about decision-making at every step.
The ZEDZ pilot project promised – and held true to - five commitments to the community and stakeholders:
- The City engaged and used applicable stakeholder input to inform loading zone selection for the pilot project.
- The City temporarily changed the regulations of the selected loading zones to prioritize Zero-Emission Vehicles only to park for loading/unloading operations.
- The City piloted a temporary Zero-Emission Delivery Zone. During this pilot, the loading zone regulations were temporary and returned to their prior designation as truck loading zones (as defined in Title 16) after March 19, 2025.
- This pilot project allowed for testing of regulations and incentives.
- The City collaborated with stakeholders on the planning process for the SMART Stage 2 Grant application.
As of July 2025, the ZEDZ pilot project team has accomplished the following public involvement activities:
- Presented at the Portland Freight Committee on the following dates:
- June 1, 2023
- March 7, 2024 (see slides here)
- June 6, 2024 (see slides here)
- August 1, 2024 (see slides here)
- December 5, 2024 (see slides here)
- March 6, 2025 (see slides here)
- Presented at C40 City Challenge on March 28, 2024 (see slides here)
- Presented at Metro’s TransPort on the following dates:
- September 13, 2023
- April 10, 2024 (see slides here)
- Participated in the OMF SMART Curb Collaborative Meeting (April 22-24, 2024)
- Presented at NACTO (May 7-10, 2024; May 30, 2025) (see May 2024 poster here)
- Convened a series of focus groups engaging over 40 stakeholders (see slides from summer 2024 here; see slides from December 2024 here, see slides from July 2025 here)
- Private and Public Sector Partners (May 31, 2024; December 13, 2024; July 8, 2025)
- Federal Government Partners (May 31, 2024; June 11, 2024; June 27, 2024)
- Environmental Justice: Communities Living within the Project Area (May 31, 2024) (see slides here)
- Privacy and Personal Data Stakeholders (June 3, 2024)
- Local Goods Delivery City Partners (June 4, 2024; December 13, 2024; July 9, 2025)
- Local Goods Delivery Stakeholders (June 4, 2024; December 13, 2024; July 9, 2025)
- Environmental Justice: Communities Living Near Distribution Centers (June 26, 2024)
- Sustainable Procurement Policy Workshop (June 27, 2024)
- Environmental Justice: Community-Based Organizations (June 28, 2024; December 4, 2024; July 10, 2025)
- Participated in the Oregon Active Transportation Summit
- Showcased the project in a panel (June 5, 2024) (April 23, 2025)
- Hosted a mobile bike tour (June 7, 2024)
- Participated at the USDOT SMART Summit 2024 (July 10-11, 2024)
- Participated in the Innovation for Decarbonization Technology Showcase (July 12, 2024) (see poster here)
- Participated in the Urban Freight Lab Summer Quarterly Meeting (July 15, 2024; June 26, 2025)
- Handed out fliers to all vehicles entering the ZEDZ loading zones (September 10, 11, 12, 17, and 18, 2024)
- Installed temporary information signs at each of the loading zones (September 11, 2024)
- Presented at Portland State University Friday Transportation Seminar hosted by TREC (December 6, 2024)
- Presented at University of Washington Urban Freight Lab's Research Meet-up (January 17, 2025)
- Hosted the OMF SMART Curb Collaborative (March 4-5, 2025)
- Presented at ITE Virtual Spring Conference 2025 (March 25, 2025)
Why test a Zero-Emission Delivery Zone?
This pilot project tested how regulations, incentives, and partnerships could change behavior and decrease pollutants from freight vehicles. This project directly responded to the City’s 2040 Freight Plan, adopted by Portland City Council in July 2023. 2040 Freight provided the momentum for PBOT’s SMART grant application by identifying small-scale projects that improve freight efficiency, safety, and access. One of the projects identified in the 2040 Freight Plan was improvements of last-mile solutions, such as deliveries that take place in commercial districts. Examples of last-mile solutions included freight consolidation strategies as well as infrastructure, like zero-emission delivery zones, and equipment that encourage the adoption of smaller and zero-emission vehicles.
Through this pilot project, PBOT staff tested strategies that had 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 responded 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 aimed 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), there are more frequent, shorter trips taken by vans and trucks in Portland. This means more delivery vehicles on streets that were 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 due to both the weight and size of these delivery vehicles.
Curb Management
The increase in e-commerce deliveries has exacerbated the demand for parking, loading, and unloading of commercial vehicles that many cities were 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 based on 21st century technologies, 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, causing congestion and safety conflicts. Finally, incentivizing mode shift to smaller size commercial vehicles could help reduce mode conflicts with vulnerable users during the loading, unloading, and parking operations.
Who are our partners?
This pilot project would not have been possible without the help of local and regional partners:
INRIX developed Curb Data Specification (map city parking rules using open-source data standards), provided curb analytics and trip analytics to further study ZEDZ operations, procured sensors, integrated sensor data into analytics data, and provided connected freight vehicle data to study ZEDZ operations.
B-Line
B-Line developed Mobility Data Specification and Curb Data Specification as part of e-cargo trike operations and supported e-cargo bike delivery from micro-hubs into the ZEDZ.
Alta Planning + Design
Alta supported project management, communications, public outreach, project implementation, and the final project report and advised on strategies for future phases.
Neighbors for Clean Air
Neighbors for Clean Air provided support for focus groups with environmental justice stakeholders and elevated voices of those impacted by climate injustice.
Portland State University
Portland State University collected observation data on loading/unloading and parking operations pre-pilot implementation. They also identified delivery profiles for tenants and businesses in the ZEDZ project area and conducted surveys and interviews.
University of Washington Urban Freight Lab
The University of Washington Urban Freight Lab conducted target interviews with key freight and goods delivery stakeholders and developed a white paper summarizing their findings.
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability provided input on parking sensor procurement and offered expert opinions for focus group around privacy and personal data.
C40 Cities
C40 Cities provided expertise, thought leadership, and best practices on zero-emission delivery zones and sustainable procurement and goods movement.
Open Mobility Foundation
Open Mobility Foundation led a collaborative of other U.S. cities working on digital curb management and provided resources/case studies/best practices to support work.
Separate from City’s Zero-Emission Delivery Zone pilot project, PBOT participated in the inaugural cohort of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator’s (LACI) City Climate Innovation Challenge for Zero Emissions Delivery (ZED Challenge). PBOT joined LACI alongside six other anchor partners, including Louisville, KY, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade County, FL, New York City, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Santa Monica, and Washington, D.C.
Additionally, 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 received SMART grants included the cities of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Miami-Dade County.