Curb Occupancy Toolkit | The Final 50 Feet: Urban Goods Delivery System Toolkit

Seattle is believed to be the first city in the U.S. and the E.U. to comprehensively map the Center City area’s commercial vehicle load/unload space network, including its curb space. A curb occupancy study helps policymakers and transportation officials understand the load/unload network’s interconnected nature, how the city’s curbs are being used at street level, and how parking policies and built environment impact that use. This toolkit draws on a curb occupancy study by the Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center, tracking parking activity along the blocks surrounding five archetypal buildings in Seattle’s Greater Downtown. The toolkit details how to conduct a study that captures the parking behavior of commercial vehicles everywhere along the block face as well as the parking activities of all vehicles in commercial vehicle loading zones.

Curb Occupancy Toolkit Resource Index

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Synopsis of the Seattle curb occupancy study

Seattle is widely thought to be the first city in the U.S. and the E.U. to comprehensively map the greater downtown area’s commercial vehicle load/unload space network, including its curb space. Cities like Seattle manage curb use through several types of curb designations that regulate who can park in a space and for how long. These designations, along with factors such as building and land use, directly impact how commercial operators use curb space.

Significantly, this occupancy case study of five greater downtown areas captures the parking behavior of commercial vehicles (CVs) everywhere along the block face as well as the parking activities of all vehicles (including passenger vehicles) in commercial vehicle loading zones (CVLZs.) Specifically, the University of Washington research team documents: (1) which types of vehicles parked in CVLZs and for how long, and; (2) how long CVs parked in CVLZs, in metered parking, in passenger load zones (PLZ) and other unauthorized spaces.

This study collects and analyzes data from a three-by-three city block grid around each of five archetypal buildings, representing a hotel, a high-rise office tower, a historical building, a retail center, and a residential tower. These same buildings served as study sites for tracking how goods move vertically within a building in the final 50 feet of the urban goods delivery system.

The occupancy study documents that each building and the built environment surrounding it has unique features that impact parking operations and, ultimately, congestion. The findings highlight the need to plan a flexible loading/unloading network with capacity for distinct types (time and space requirements) of CV parking demand. This study also drives home that the curb does not function in isolation, but instead forms one element of the greater downtown area’s broader, interconnected load/unload network. A curb occupancy study helps policymakers and transportation officials understand the load/unload network’s interconnected nature, how the city’s curbs are being used at street level, and how parking policies and built environment impact that use.

Study Goals

To help cities actively manage curb space as part of the comprehensive commercial load/unload network (including private loading infrastructure and alleys) by conducting an occupancy study of representative greater downtown area curb spaces using methods that are: