Leo PortalNew York City announced last week that it is looking for original ideas from the private sector on how to make the idea a reality. It wants to transform its waterways into “blue highways” for delivering goods.
Large trucks that pollute and clog New York City’s roads then deliver millions of packages every day. However, there is an exciting opportunity to create a local freight network to move our goods more carefully and effectively given that the city’s coastline stretches greater than Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco put together, according to Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner of transportation for the NYC Department of Transportation.
The city claimed that the private sector’s feedback on blue highways will aid in the creation of a possible pilot program to transport more cargo using marine vessels. The feedback might even inspire financial investments, like the renovation of marine terminals.
The delivery of goods can be a ugly business, and it is anticipated that the consequences will worsen.
According to a new National League of Cities action guide looking at how cities can decarbonize delivery, global emissions from local delivery traffic are predicted to rise by 32 % by 2030 as consumers continue to shop online. According to the action guide, traffic congestion from delivery traffic is expected to increase commute times for people by 11 minutes in the world’s 100 largest cities.
Less than 10 % of New York’s freight is moved via waterways, despite the fact that the city is known as a” city of islands,” according to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi and nbsp.
The large, enormous trucks that transport a large number of New Yorkers ‘ packages are” crumbling our roads into the ground,” according to state senator for that state, Andrew Gounardes. According to a statement from City Council Member Amanda Faras, some of the highest asthma rates in the country are directly correlated with the hundreds of freight trucks that pass through South Bronx neighborhoods every day.
According to Faras, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and economic justice have to be our major priorities. The recently announced Blue Highways initiative satisfies all three requirements and is precisely the kind of initiative I want to see from our City going forward.”
However, the city must maintain, modernize, and construct switch infrastructure in order to make blue highways a reality, according to Michael Stamatis, president and CEO of Red Hook Terminals.
The” Blue Highways” initiative is n’t New York City’s only effort to combat the growth of e-commerce. In an effort to persuade businesses to use bicycles for regional deliveries, the city also has a program that enables enrolled cargo bikes to load and unload in specific areas.
Microhubs, where trucks can unload goods onto smaller, cleaner vehicles for last-mile delivery, are another pilot program that is currently in the works. New Yorkers can send and receive packages using stable lockers on public sidewalks in 15 locations thanks to the year-round” LockerNYC” pilot program.
Additionally, the city is collaborating with the private sector to promote deliveries between 7 o’clock and 6 a.m. during off-peak hours.
