United States-European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries
Overview of Second Annual Urban Freight Roundtable at 2017 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

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Research

United States

Metropolitan Freight Transportation: Implementing Effective Strategies (NCHRP 08-106)

Although information about innovations and best practices in urban freight is now widely available, research has not addressed the question of why some urban freight strategies succeed and others do not. With a better understanding of when particular strategies are most appropriate, freight professionals could much better tailor strategies to the specific circumstances they find in their local areas. The research team is developing a tool and guidance to help practitioners identify critical factors, barriers, and possible characteristics that can accelerate successful implementation of urban freight strategies. Researchers have developed a "problem-driven" Excel matrix of strategy solutions based upon literature and experience (domestic and international). It will be updated with the results of a recently completed survey.

This research is funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program of the Transportation Research Board and is labeled as NCHRP Project 08-106.

Project Type

Research

Period of Performance

May 2016 - May 2018

Project Site(s)

Metropolitan Regions

Website

http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4034

Contacts

Bill Eisele
Co-Principal Investigator
Texas A&M University
(979) 845-8550
Bill-Eisele@tamu.edu

Seckin Ozkul
Co-Principal Investigator
University of South Florida
(813) 974-3120
SOzkul@cutr.usf.edu

Challenges Addressed

• Mobility
• Regulations
• Design
• Implementation

Expected Outcomes

The objective of this research is to develop guidance for transportation practitioners that identifies and evaluates:

1. Critical factors impacting the implementation of effective approaches to improve urban freight transportation.
2. Barriers to the implementation of effective approaches.
3. Strategies, processes, and relationships that could accelerate the adoption of effective practices and technologies.

Specific project deliverables will include: Strategy resource matrix (Excel), urban freight implementation tool (UFIT), UFIT user's guide, documented pilot studies to implement urban freight strategies (for future implementation).

Stakeholder Involvement

The research team recently completed an online survey to help determine:

• Why some metropolitan freight transportation strategies succeed in implementation and others do not.
• How various strategies may impact different freight stakeholder groups.