Background Information

Performance and risk-based approaches for managing curb space when considering adding curbside charging stations are needed by Departments of Transportation and local agencies. Challenges such as mobility resiliency, trip and fall hazards, vandalism, climate resilience, asset life-cycle planning, and comprehensive levels of service are not well understood as the nature of shared curb space is changing. New expectations for increasing transportation options such as pickup/drop-off areas as a tradeoff to parking, bike corrals and electric bike sharing stations, and the potential need to add curbside public EV charging stations add complexity to decisions transportation planners, engineers, and maintenance staff have to make to respond to travel needs.

Curb Management efficiently manages curb space for loading/unloading, ride-hailing and deliveries, and reduces double-parking and illegal stopping. Benefits include improved traffic flow and reduced congestion around busy areas like transit hubs or commercial zones. The use of MaaS and MoD, both affected by curb management, promotes integrating multiple modes of transportation (e.g., public transit, car/bike/scooter sharing, and ride-hailing) which reduces the use of single-occupancy vehicles which, in turn, reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMT), directly mitigating congestion. A performance and risk-based approach to curb management could provide the transportation industry with a good practices and effective methodologies to determine how states manage curb usage.

Literature Search Summary

• NCHRP Report 1090 Risks Related to Emerging and Disruptive Technologies: A Guide covers risks related to increased competition for curb space amongst modes such as MOD, MaaS and the desire to proliferate an EV charging network. 1090 highlights that pickup/drop-off and modal options – including bicycles and scooters – potentially compete for the same space as curbside charging capabilities. The report did not identify specific approaches or good practices for how to manage risks to the curb space when considering adding curbside charging stations. The report provides isolated high-level mitigation strategies for individual areas, but does not look at the risks and trade-offs from a wholistic curb management perspective or the interaction of these uses. The curb management was a small subset of this research and can serve as a starting point for the proposed research.
• NCHRP Synthesis 597 Micromobility Policies, Permits and Practices Reviewed implementation of micromobility and quantified associated risks to other users in the curb space, could serve as a useful starting point for risk assessment on this curb use
• NCHRP 340 Web only Doc. Dynamic Curbside Management: Keeping Pace with New and Emerging Mobility and Technology in the Public Right-of-Way, Part 1: Dynamic Curbside Management Guide and Part 2: Conduct of Research Report (2022). Provides current standards and best practices in curb management including the CurbLR open data spec and Curb Data Specification (CDS) as well as a framework for understanding the goals of curb management. It discusses the trade-offs of EV chargers and other emerging technologies. Some of the largest risks are discussed as considerations but no framework or guidance is provided on how to incorporate risk in the decisions. This document should be a foundation of the proposed research.
• NCHRP Report 1066 Risk Assessment Techniques for Transportation Asset Management and the appendices web only doc 366. Provides techniques for risk assessment of transportation assets, no discussion of “the curb” but some of the techniques and considerations for other assets could be applied.
• Consensus Study Report The Role of Transit, Shared Modes, and Public Policy in the New Mobility Landscape (2021). Extensive discussion of the types of risk associated with a variety of emerging curb uses, no framework for assessment.
• ITE Curbside Management Practitioners Guide – Provides many good considerations for how curb uses and design, minimal consideration of risk or emerging technology
• TCRP report 95 Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes Handbook, Third Edition: Chapter 18, Parking Management and Supply provides quantitative data on how people react to changes in parking supply these techniques could be expanded to consider dynamic curb use and the addition of charging infrastructure.
• “Management of the curb space allocation in urban transportation system” Yu and Bayram; 2021; International Transaction in Operations Research; https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.12941. Developed dynamic vs fixed curb allocation optimization models based on max profit and min delay objectives. Could build on this framework with a min risk objective.
• “Curbside Parking Monitoring With Roadside LiDAR” Chen, Xu, Liu; 2023; TRR; https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981231193410. Provides new method for short term deployment and curb monitoring could be a valuable technique during this research.
• “Testing Curbside Management Strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Ride sourcing Services on Traffic” Ranjbari, Machado-Leon Goodchild; 2020; TRR; https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198120957314. Looked at 2 curb management strategies for their impact on passenger satisfaction, travel speeds and traffic safety.
• “Demystifying Urban Curbside Freight Management: Strategic Incremental Approach from Washington, D.C.” Dey, Perez, Dock; 2019; TRR https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198119863773. Focused on pricing strategies and freight operations at the curb.
• “Enabling Factors and Durations Data Analytics for Dynamic Freight Parking Limits” Castrellon, Sanchez-Diaz, Kalahasthi; 2022; TRR; https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981221115086. Looks at factors necessary and algorithms for dynamic parking duration policies, these would be type of policy that needs to be evaluated for the risk as compared to other curb management strategies.
• “Optimal Curbside Pricing for Managing Ride-Hailing Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs” Liu, Ma, Qian; 2022; SSRN; Liu, Jiachao and Ma, Wei and Qian, Sean, Optimal Curbside Pricing for Managing Ride-Hailing Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4068718 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4068718 They modeled travelers make joint choices of modes (driving or ride-hailing) for different curb pricing strategies. This technique could be modeled to include additional mode and uses for Mobility as a services and EV charging options as well.
• “Approximate Optimum Curbside Utilisation for Pick-Up and Drop-Off (PUDO) and Parking Demands Using Reinforcement Learning” Ye, Feng, Qiu, Stettler, Angeloudis; 2022; IEEE; DOI: 10.1109/ITSC55140.2022.9922036. Looks at optimization between Pick up drop off and long-term parking.
• Dynamic Curbside Management: Keeping Pace with New and Emerging Mobility and Technology in the Public Right of Way. This paper provides guidance on dynamic curbside management including the development of performance measures (and potential conflicting goals) for curb use, considerations for data collection and management, potential tools, and considerations of technological advancements including autonomous and electric vehicles.
• Dynamic Curbside Management: Keeping Pace with New and Emerging Mobility and Technology in the Public Right-of-Way, Part 1: Dynamic Curbside Management Guide and Part 2: Conduct of Research Report | The National Academies Press
• Automated Vehicles and Infrastructure Enablers: Curbs and Curbside Management covers design, maintenance, and management approaches for curbs and adjacent infrastructure for passenger pick up and drop off. While this paper discusses curbside infrastructure and alternate mobility methods, the impact and interactivity of EV charging infrastructure is not discussed.
• EPR2024005: Automated Vehicles and Infrastructure Enablers: Curbs and Curbside Management - Research Report (sae.org)
• Estimating and Mitigating the Congestion Effect of Curbside Pick-ups and Drop-offs: A Causal Inference Approach focuses primarily on the effect of PUDOs on curbside utilization and a rerouting method which could be referenced with regard to mobility resilience. This paper addresses aspects of curbside usage, but does not take a wholistic view of curbside performance.
• Estimating and Mitigating the Congestion Effect of Curbside Pick-ups and Drop-Offs: A Causal Inference Approach | Transportation Science (informs.org)
• Community Charging: Emerging Multifamily, Curbside, and Multimodal Practices focuses on identifying existing EV charging station practices and recommends approaches for implementing and maintaining infrastructure for providing charging to individuals without private off-street parking. This paper does not address the risks of curbside charging to other aspects of the curbside.
• Community Charging: Emerging Multifamily, Curbside, and Multimodal Practices (driveelectric.gov)
• Designing a Prototype of a Mobile Charging Robot for Charging of Electric Vehicles discusses the process of designing a mobile charging robot and potential applications. This provides a potential alternative to fixed charging infrastructure, but would not likely be a viable solution in the short term.
• 2024-01-2990: Designing a Prototype of a Mobile Charging Robot for Charging of Electric Vehicles - Technical Paper (sae.org)
• Curbside Management, 2023 Executive Briefing. This document provides a general approach to curbside management that includes consideration of EV charging, passenger pickup/drop-off, and other curbside services. However, the approach does not explicitly provide guidance with respect to risks posed by each potential service: 2023 Executive Briefing Curbside Management (dot.gov)
• Managing the Curb: Understanding the Impacts of On-Demand Mobility on Public Transit, Micromobility, and Pedestrians: https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/1904-Shaheen-Curbspace-Management-Shared-Mobility-Pedestrians.pdf. Examines the needs and management of curb space. This paper highlights concerns over the impact, equity and access, and safety concerns associated with the growing demand for curb space. Some of the concerns highlighted include congestion and competition among users, access to curb space, and the need for clear and safe allocations for pedestrians and cyclists to minimize conflicts. The paper also suggests strategies and provides frameworks to manage curb space, including designated areas, dynamic pricing, and community involvement when planning. The paper also provides performance metrics for the management of curb space such as number of accidents, number of accessible vehicles or devices, among many others. The paper does include high level risks, and performance metrics for curb management, but does not go provide enough detail for states to understand implementation or integration within management decisions.

Objectives

The objective of this research is to develop performance and risk-based approaches to curb management. The research will provide guidance and good practices to better enable DOTs in managing performance and threats added with transportation features like electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and Mobility on Demand (MOD) as they compete for the same curb space as more traditional physical transportation elements such as pedestrian and vehicle parking/loading usage. The research will include the identification of good practices, necessary data to support performance and risk-based decision making, and a framework for developing performance and risk-based approaches to managing shared curb space.

Keywords/Terms

Link to 2021-2026 AASHTO Strategic Plan

Urgency and Potential Benefits

There are numerous ongoing funding opportunities that states are actively implementing that demonstrate that implementation is occurring faster than approaches to good management strategies, summarized below:

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program allocated approximately $4.1 Billion in funding to states to strategically deploy EV charging stations and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability. Eligible NEVI funding include:

• The acquisition, installation, and network connection of EV charging stations to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability;
• Proper operation and maintenance of EV charging stations; and,
• Long-term EV charging station data sharing.

Although proper operation and maintenance was a funding eligible activity, there was no guidance provided on how to do it, or what levels of acceptable service are.

The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program is allocating approximately $2.5 Billion in funding to deploy publicly accessible electric, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling infrastructure along designated corridors, and within communities, that will be accessible to all drivers. Eligible activities within the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant include:

• The acquisition and installation of publicly accessible electric charging, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling infrastructure.
• Operating assistance for 5 years of operations after the installation.
• Install traffic control devices located in the right-of-way to provide directional information to eligible infrastructure acquired, installed, or operated with the grant.
• Projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to expand or fill gaps in access to publicly accessible electric charging, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling infrastructure.
• Fund educational and community engagement activities to develop and implement education programs through partnerships with schools, community organizations, and vehicle dealerships to support the use of zero-emission vehicles and associated infrastructure.
• The program does define corridor and community eligibility, and does state that traffic control devices must follow the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). There was no guidance on the performance and risk-based approaches to curb management in relation to the installation, operation assistance, or maintenance of these devices.

FHWA just released their National Deployment Plan for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Technologies “Saving Lives with Connectivity: A Plan to Accelerate V2X Deployment” in it they discuss the current investments being made in connected infrastructure:

• Invested $61.5 million in V2X technology research and deployment through the FHWA Turner Fairbank Highway Research Program over the last five years, with $12.5 million in follow-on research projects budgeted for FY24
• Identified and promoted funding opportunities made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including awards to seven Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) and four Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) grants that include V2X elements. Approximately $200 million in active, grant funded projects are underway now, including earlier Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) grants.

They also set the following goals:

• Top 75 metro areas have 25% of signalized intersections V2X enabled by 2028
• Top 75 metro areas have 50% of signalized intersections V2X enabled and V2X installed in 40% of the nation’s intersections by 2031

The top metro areas will have the largest competition for curb space and connected infrastructure will be located in the curb. Also, Cyber Security is a highly discussed risk, and given the traditional adage that “physical access is total access” and every connected device is a potential physical access point the risks to DOT and city systems needs to be considered.

One of the two primary task for States, Local Governments, Tribes, and Public Agencies in the National Deployment Plan for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Technologies is to Deploy and operate secure interoperable, cybersecure infrastructure-based V2X technologies and applications. Without understanding the risks we cannot provide for security.

Implementation Considerations

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Others Supporting Problem Statement

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