Program to move delivery trucks out of downtown eyed

Breckenridge is looking to make improvements to food and beverage delivery services and is hoping to lessen the amount of — or possibly eliminate — delivery trucks in the town’s core. The Town Council is eyeing how Vail does things with its e-delivery program, which removed delivery trucks from its villages.

Vail launched its program in October 2022 with 106West Logistics. The delivery service company said its program, depending on the season, has eliminated 125 to 150 delivery truck trips per week into Vail’s villages.

Breckenridge’s has a quarter of a million dollars in its 2024 budget dedicated to rolling out a similar program, which would be a pilot, for a centralized food and beverage delivery center. If the pilot program goes well and the town decides to fully implement edelivery, officials estimate it could remove 150 truck trips per week from the town’s core.

Delivery trucks would deliver to one location in town rather than travel door to door. From there, a thirdparty company would distribute the deliveries to the restaurants and businesses using a fleet of small electric vehicles.

At the Dec. 12 Town Council meeting, staffers brought in 106West Logistics to discuss how the roll out in Vail went and how a similar program could work in Breckenridge.

Staff members noted in a memo that the town is interested in pursuing a similar program as it looks to reduce the number of delivery trucks accessing or idling near businesses from the Main Street alleys.

Public works director James Phelps explained to the council that in addition to reducing emissions, it would help lessen the programming that delivery services eat up, clearing the way for more programming for pedestrians and bikers.

Phelps told council that staff members hope to move swiftly to roll out a pilot program.

“We recognize it’s an aggressive timeline, but we’d like to get something on the ground beginning next June,” Phelps told council.

By June 2024, the town hopes to start the pilot program with select vendors.

He said the town will be looking for volunteer restaurants and beverage locations to participate in the pilot to test it out. The town also hopes to utilize a similar program for trash, recycling and compost, something Vail is also considering through 106West logistics, according to the company.

If all goes well, by May 2026 the construction of a permanent e- delivery center could begin — it’s slated to take approximately seven months to finish.

Staff put forth four suggested sites for the pilot program, which include the Public Works yard, Schoonover site, Tiger Dredge horseshoe and F Lot.

Out of these four locations, staff said the Tiger Dredge horseshoe site has risen to the top of the list, though nothing is solidified.

106West Logistics principal David Riddle explained to council that Vail’s delivery dock operates from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Operations are generally six days a week, and sometimes seven.

“I would say the majority of days we are wrapping up, or trying to be done, by noon at the latest,” Riddle said.

Riddle said that this program really picked up after six months in Vail and works efficiently during peak traffic times, such as holidays. He noted that during Christmas the service delivered more than 140 kegs a day into Vail.

Council generally showed support for this, especially the council members who own restaurants.

Vail’s introduction of the e- delivery service was accompanied by a ban on delivery vehicles and trucks in its villages. It also hoped to ban high-volume, commercial carrier delivery trucks, something the town is currently undergoing a lawsuit over. This ban barred national carriers from the area such as UPS, Fedex and DHL.

This lawsuit, brought by the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, began in November and claims the town’s ordinance removing delivery vehicles from Vail Village and Lionshead Village is anti-competitive and preempted by federal law.

On Dec. 15, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the town from enforcing the ordinance until a trial is held.

Town manager Shannon Haynes said Breckenridge will not enforce a ban on delivery trucks for the pilot program starting in June.

In terms of the full implementation of the delivery service beyond the pilot, Haynes said the town has yet to make any decisions on how to enforce getting delivery trucks out of Breckenridge’s core.