| Description |
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of focus on the freight transportation aspects of supply chain operations by public sector transportation professionals. Much of this research has examined freight movements in urban areas, with freight deliveries being a particular focus area. Freight deliveries, particularly in urban areas, can create challenges both for freight carriers, who need a place to park their vehicles in locations that often lack adequate or appropriate truck parking, and for other transportation system users (car drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, and other freight carriers), who in some cases are negatively impeded by the freight delivery activities. Additionally, the growth of e-commerce has dramatically increased the volume of commercial retail deliveries to non-commercial retail locations, and in some cases the lack of storage areas at these delivery locations create their own set of challenges. This final portion of the freight transportation supply chain, sometimes called the last 50 feet of the supply chain, is short in length but critical in impact for freight deliveries; inefficient freight deliveries can create dramatic, adverse impacts for freight carriers that need to make multiple freight deliveries every day. Many researchers, including those at the Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington, are studying freight delivery issues in an effort to understand how those deliveries can be improved and made more efficient while not negatively impacting other transportation system users. |
