The Washington District’s Department of Transportation will conduct a three-month study with startup company curbFlow to explore how to better manage city logistics aimed at improving the use of curb space on nine city blocks. The pilot targets commercial delivery services, which are often at a loss for suitable loading and unloading zones and thus end up double parking or circling the block in search of an available unloading zone. Commercial vehicle operators need safe and reliable access to the curb space for pickup and drop-off of passengers, parcels, and deliveries.
The locations were selected based on their propensity to contribute to safety concerns due to double parking or other behaviors. Starting on August 1, 2019, parking will be removed from these blocks for 12 weeks to set up curbFlow loading zones. curbFlow allows commercial delivery services to reserve curb space for the several minutes it takes to make a delivery. The project is focused on gathering data and other information.
The zones will be used by both commercial vehicles and private vehicles operating in a commercial manner such as picking up for an online food delivery service or other online delivery platforms. Participants will use an app free of charge.
Source: curbFlow