Best Practices in Urban Freight Management: Lessons from an International Survey

Freight movement is essential to the function of metropolitan areas, yet generates many externalities, including congestion, air pollution, noise, and greenhouse gas emissions. Metropolitan areas around the world are seeking ways to manage urban freight and its impacts. This paper presents the results from a comprehensive international survey of urban freight management strategies. The objective was to examine the effectiveness of alternative strategies and assess their transferability for U.S. implementation. Three categories were used to describe urban freight strategies: last-mile or first-mile deliveries and pickups, environmental mitigation, and trade node strategies. Many possibilities were found for the improved management of urban freight and its impacts; these possibilities included labeling and certification programs, incentive-based programs for voluntary emissions reduction, local land use and parking policies, and more stringent national fuel efficiency and emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks. More research is needed on intrametropolitan freight movements and on the effectiveness of existing policies and strategies.