Digital twin for managing the curb and reducing congestion (Phase 2)

Curb space in dense urban cores is under intense pressure from freight deliveries, service vehicles, and passenger car parking activities. Without a data-driven view of curb regulations and demand, cities face double-parking, spillback congestion, and safety conflicts. This project addresses the gap by creating an open-data-based digital twin that links curb regulations, observed curb activity proxies, and network performance to support actionable curb management decisions. The research team is developing a strategic curb digital twin for a portion of downtown Los Angeles (DTLA), built using publicly available data to ensure transparency and replicability. In Phase 1, the team integrated multiple open datasets (GIS networks from the LA GeoHub, land use data from DataLA, OpenStreetMap) and developed heterogeneous freight demand models distinguishing commercial and residential delivery behaviors. Phase 2 adds an analytical curb allocation optimization layer with targeted microsimulation validation. While the broader research agenda includes multimodal curb demand modeling (pursued in parallel work), Phase 2 addresses the policy question: given competing freight delivery and passenger parking demands, how should curb space be optimally allocated across blockfaces and time-of-day periods?

• Record URL:
  • https://metrans.org/research/digital-twin-for-managing-the-curb-and-reducing-congestion-phase-2

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $80,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747109

  PSR-25-SP07

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center

  University of Southern California
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90089

  METRANS Transportation Consortium

  University of Southern California
  Los Angeles, CA  United States 
• Project Managers:

  Hong, Jennifer

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Southern California, Los Angeles

  University Park Campus
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90089
• Principal Investigators:

  Boarnet, Marlon

• Start Date: 20260515
• Expected Completion Date: 20270515
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Congestion management systems; Curb side parking; Digital twins; Microsimulation; Optimization
• Geographic Terms: Los Angeles (California)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01996387
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747109, PSR-25-SP07
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 22 2026 5:17PM