A zero-emission delivery zone pilot in Portland, Ore., offered new insights into not only the possibilities of electrified logistics, but how permitting, policy and technology can be put to work for improved curb management.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) conducted the six-month pilot last year to explore the use of zero-emission deliveries across a 17-block area of downtown. The project tested the use of electric cargo bikes, e-trucks, curb management technology and other digital assets.
“We didn’t really have a good idea of what was happening on our curb, and what our utilization really looked like,” Russ Brooks, PBOT urban freight and logistics coordinator, said, noting video monitoring installed in the zone showed 75 percent of the time when a vehicle was in a loading zone, it was an unauthorized vehicle…