AIANY’s 2022 report Delivering the Goods: NYC Urban Freight in the Age of E-Commerce examined the exponential rise in e-commerce and goods deliveries to businesses and consumers during the Covid years, offering strategies to better manage the city’s freight networks and infrastructure. Although the uptick in local deliveries has returned to historic growth patterns since then, freight volumes in NYC continue to rise, with 90 percent of goods still delivered by truck, while our highways and streets are at or over capacity. How can we move more goods with our existing street network in more sustainable and equitable ways? Join us as we discuss the City’s Blue Highways Action Plan connecting land and sea to unlock the future potential for more sustainable freight networks. Connecting maritime goods movement through the Blue Highway with land-based micro-distribution through our street networks is part of the solution—shifting goods onto our waterways for the middle-mile segment of deliveries, with electric cargo bikes handling the last-mile. Representing key City agencies, academic researchers, maritime and land-based delivery operators, and community advocates, our speakers will assess the current state of the freight landscape in New York City, review strategies to scale up our freight networks, look at the many initiatives by NYC DOT and NYCEDC to develop alternative low-carbon modes of delivery in the city, and introduce emerging initiatives to spur the development of marine-based components on the Blue Highways. It’s back to the future with a 21st century twist.
