United States - European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries, Volume II
Overview of 2018-2019 International Urban Freight Roundtables
1. Introduction
Freight and transportation practitioners in urban areas continue to work with one another and in collaboration with the private sector to identify and deploy strategies to manage congestion and to ensure the efficient and safe provision of urban transportation. Given the pace and evolution of economic, technological, and other trends, public and private sector freight practitioners must be equipped to address the new and emerging realities of delivering goods to diverse urban areas across the globe.
This compendium provides high-level descriptions of ongoing or recently completed international urban freight initiatives which were shared at the 2018 and 2019 International Urban Freight Roundtables (Roundtables). The Roundtable is an annual event sponsored by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in cooperation with the European Commission (EC). The roundtables seek to provide stakeholders with new and emerging practices in the management and operations of urban freight fleets to maximize both public and private benefit while minimizing negative externalities that may be associated with urban freight deliveries. Private and public sector officials who are deploying innovative freight strategies attend the Roundtables. The goal of the Roundtable and the annual compendia is to help a network of urban freight professionals who together engage in cross-cutting collaborations to address the field's most pressing issues.
The strategies presented in this compendium range from research and regional/metropolitan planning efforts to pilot demonstrations and policy initiatives. Many of the themes of the inaugural (2017) edition reappear in this second edition of the compendium. For example, many stakeholders are continuing data collection and analysis on urban freight infrastructure such as curbside loading zones. However, the 2018 and 2019 Roundtables included additional topics not addressed in the 2017 event. For example, a new and notable topic at the 2018 and 2019 Roundtables was the education and development of a workforce capable of tackling today's most pressing issues in urban freight. This compendium describes projects such as continuing education certification and efforts to expose secondary and post-secondary students to freight and logistics careers.
FHWA understands the critical importance of safe, efficient, and reliable urban goods movement. It is committed to helping States, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), cities, and other stakeholders improve the management of urban freight flows. FHWA is currently developing resources, including this publication, which cover a range of topics and can assist partners in implementing improved strategies for improved freight mobility.
About the FHWA-EC Twinning Initiative
The FHWA-EC Twinning Initiative promotes coordination and information exchange on areas of urban freight research and innovation that are of mutual interest and benefit to both agencies. The initiative highlights urban logistics projects funded by the EC and research projects and other urban freight activities sponsored by FHWA.
The EC-funded projects are part of Horizon 2020, the EC's latest research and development program. Horizon 2020 project leads are large public-private consortia that work on research and deployment of urban logistics initiatives. The projects involve pilot testing of urban freight strategies in as many as 20 European cities.
FHWA-sponsored projects include a guidebook on context-sensitive design for freight practitioners, primers that identify a range of urban freight strategies, freight noteworthy practices, international peer exchanges, webinars, and other activities. Collectively, these FHWA projects seek to define major challenges facing freight transport in U.S. cities and highlight innovative practices to address those challenges.
