The impact of optimizing delivery areas on urban traffic congestion

Abstract

The objective of this article is to study the impacts of freight delivery in urban areas and its impact on urban congestion which is a factor accentuating greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, we focused on the lack and unavailability of delivery areas (DAs), defined as spaces where delivery vehicles may park for final deliveries. Their absence leads drivers to double-park. To minimize the impact of this problem, a field study was initially conducted, followed by an Integer Linear Program formulation of the DAs' problem, with emphasis on their location, number, and usage. By solving this problem, we could optimize the location of DAs taking into account stores assigned to them and their respective delivery demands. Subsequently, we evaluated the impact of double-parking and the DAs' optimization on urban congestion through a new method combining optimization and simulation. This approach is tested on a french case study. Finally, detailed numerical simulation results of various generated instances of traffic highlight the strong relationship between urban traffic congestion and number, use, and location of DAs.