Freight distribution problem in a congested urban network is characterized by, among other factors,
(i) the transportation network including traffic characteristics, parking capacity, delivery and pick-up
facilities, (ii) type of clients being served (neighborhood grocery stores, department stores, distribution
centers, warehouses, etc.), and (iii) the type of goods being picked-up or delivered. In this paper, we focus,
in particular, on the distribution problem involving medium-sized stores (e.g., neighborhood grocery
stores). Freight transportation in such a context is influenced not only by the location of the stores, but
also by the size of the network links and the availability of parking areas for the freight vehicles. Indeed,
medium size stores in old European cities like Rome are spread out in the Central Business District
(CBD) having narrow streets and with limited off-street parking which can hardly accommodate one or
two trucks at a time for parking, loading and unloading operations, and even then the trucks may obstruct
the street traffic. In fact in such scenarios, some cities, for example, London and Singapore, have started
to impose congestion pricing in the CBD during peak hours so that there is less pollution and more
smooth traffic flows. Invariably, this will require the delivery and pick-up trucks to make their trips more
efficiently through the CBD