Our Goals
The UFL’s first task is pilot testing promising low-cost and high-value actions to optimize operations in the Final 50 Feet of the urban goods delivery system. The Final 50 Feet is defined as the supply chain segment that begins when trucks pull into a parking space and stop moving—in public load/unload spaces at the curb or in an alley, or in a building’s loading dock or internal freight bay. It tracks the delivery process inside buildings and ends where the customer takes receipt of their goods.
Our goals are:
- Reduce carbon footprint for retailers and logistics providers;
- Lower costs for retailers and delivery firms, and therefore potentially lower costs for their customers;
- Help cities reach their climate goals (the transportation sector is responsible for 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions);
- Improve air quality for city residents
- Help meet the increasing demand for urban deliveries;
- Increase productivity of loading zones, and potentially reduce the required number of loading zones;
- Reduce cruising time for parking and unauthorized parking behavior among commercial vehicles;
- Lower traffic congestion in cities;
- Improve safety at the curb
Our Achievements
Since our October 2016 launch, the Lab has completed an innovative suite of research projects that provide foundational data and proven strategies. Our research program has:
- Produced foundational research on the Final 50 Feet of the supply chain
- Developed and applied approaches to quantify urban freight infrastructure
- Developed and applied approaches to measure infrastructure
- Generated and tested approaches to reducing dwell time and failed deliveries in urban areas including a common carrier locker system in Seattle Municipal Tower and at Sound Transit train stations and transit-oriented development,
- Developed and implemented an approach to measuring the volume of vehicles entering and exiting Seattle's Greater Downtown.
Contact:
Kelly Rula
Director of Policy and Partnerships, Urban Freight Lab
krula@uw.edu
More:
How we work
Read our research publications
Media recognition of the Urban Freight Lab
Learn about our current research
Meet our members
Join us
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.
About the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center: The Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center at the University of Washington is the go-to place to analyze and solve urban goods delivery, sustainability, logistic hubs and ports, and freight system performance management problems that overlap private and public spaces and control. Our work integrates in-depth consultation with industry and the public sector, transformative research, and executive education, and serves the powerful nexus of industry, transportation infrastructure, and policymakers.