Seattle is the fastest-growing city in the United States. Since 2010, the population in Seattle has grown 18.7%.
What role do vehicles play in this growth?
From seattletimes.com
As the city grows, how might transit and freight systems meet the demands of both residents and businesses?
The Urban Freight Lab (UFL)
The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) has partnered with the City of Seattle to better understand the existing freight system—with the goal of optimizing the network for future growth.
UFL is conducting a cordon study, which will measure the number of vehicles moving in and out of Seattle’s city center. The data comes from a set of 41 gateways located around the city cordon. The current set comes from the intersection of 4th Ave S. and S. Holgate St. Vehicles moving across the cordon line - both in and out - are recorded. The data tracks not only the number of vehicles moving across the cordon line, but the type of vehicle as well.
Generally, vehicle types can be divided into two categories.
Although commercial vehicles only account for 7.5% of all volume on the network, their on-time operation can be critical to Seattle's thriving economy.
Construction
Freight
Service
The data collected in this study provides more detailed insights into how different commercial vehicle types may support the city of Seattle.
On an average day, the vehicle distribution for allcommercial vehicles looks like this:
Across different days of the week, counts across different categories may vary.
The Thursday peak can be attributed to commercial shipping schedules. Most shippers try to get their product to stores by Thursday, in order to put it on shelves by Friday, and ready for sale by the weekend.
The data can also reveal patterns in overall traffic counts throughout the day.
By comparing in and out counts, we can determine different inflection points throughout the day.
This data set from 4th Ave S. and S. Holgate St represents one set out of 41, located around Seattle’s City Center. Once completed, this study will potentially provide a holistic view of how commercial vehicles support the framework of Seattle.
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