Portland will restrict polluting delivery trucks in a sliver of the city’s downtown, a federally funded effort to promote zero-emission alternatives.
Starting early next year, only zero-emissions vehicles will be allowed to park in certain downtown loading zones within a 16-block zone of downtown. That could include electric trucks, hydrogen-fueled vehicles or cargo bikes, while diesel-powered trucks must park outside the zone.
The new rule will not prevent diesel-powered vehicles from driving through the area, or parking in other zones on the street. Passenger vehicles aren’t affected.
The zone primarily includes government offices, including city hall and the county and federal courthouses, with few other businesses or restaurants. Some private office buildings are inside its boundaries.
Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesperson Dylan Rivera said the city hopes the new zero-emissions delivery zone will reduce air pollution and traffic in the city core and increase safety, and that it’s a “significant but modest” first step to test the potential for the electrification of freight in the downtown area.
“Given that we need a certain amount of goods and shipping to work for the public, how do we make those deliveries in a cleaner, greener, safer way?” he said. “What we’ve been talking about for more than 10 years is some sort of last-mile delivery using smaller electric and human-powered vehicles. We finally have an opportunity to try it out.”
A $2 million federal grant will allow the city to place sensors near loading zones, and track what kinds of vehicles are stopping there. Rivera said the sensors would just be used to count vehicles and not used for enforcement of the parking restrictions.
Some of the money may also go toward incentivizing delivery companies to use a local cargo tricycle delivery company, B-Line, to deliver within the restricted zone.
A parking space designated for zero-emissions vehicles. The city of Portland will soon require only zero-emissions delivery vehicles to park in one area of downtown.Portland Bureau of Transportation
The zone runs along Naito Parkway between Southwest Jefferson and Taylor streets, and stretches west to 5th Avenue. There are several loading zones just outside the boundaries that diesel trucks can use, Rivera said.
Portland’s transportation bureau was one of 59 agencies to win one of the federal grants, and Portland will be the first U.S. city to implement a zero-emission delivery zone.
If the pilot program succeeds, PBOT could be eligible for a $15 million grant to expand the program and make it permanent.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com
