Portland State University students Nikki Wheeler, Lindsay Walker, Peter Pelzer and Josh Steiner won the Rudin Center/APA graduate student award in transportation planning. The award recognizes student projects with a substantial transportation planning and design component that demonstrate an understanding of planning principals and a spirit of innovation.

The winning project designed two bicycle boulevards in northwest Portland as part of a graduate-level bicycle and pedestrian design studio at PSU.

An approximately 1-mile segment of Northwest 24th Avenue and an approximately 2/3-mile segment of Northwest Flanders Street were selected as the project routes. Although identified as bicycle boulevards in the City’s Bicycle Master Plan, these routes were largely unimproved for bicycle travel and failed to function as bicycle boulevards.

The Rudin Center has more.

Portland State University faculty and students presented their work at the National Urban Freight Conference (NUFC) in Long Beach, CA October 21-23, 2009. Dr. Miguel Figliozzi presented "Emissions & Energy Minimization Vehicle Routing Problem" and "A Study of Transportation Disruption Causes and Cost in Containerized Maritime Transportation." Also, graduate research assistants Ryan Conrad and Nikki Wheeler presented research projects sponsored by OTREC. Ryan presented "Algorithms and Methodologies to Analyze and Quantify the Impacts of Congestion on Urban Distribution Systems Using Real-world Urban Network Data" and Nikki presented "Analysis of the Impacts of Congestion on Freight Movements in the Portland Metropolitan Area." NUFC brings together researchers and practitioners in the public and private sectors from many disciplines within freight transportation. This conference is the only one of its kind in the US, and brought attendees and presenters from across the US, Canada and Europe.

OTREC was pleased to brief members of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation on August 3, 2009. Staff provided an members with an overview of the OTREC’s research, education, and technology transfer programs. Students Nikki Wheeler and Nathan McNeil summarized their involvement in two projecs: “Investigation of Intersection Safety for Cyclists by Age and Gender” a “Evaluation of Bike Boxes at Signalized Intersections”. Additional faculty participated by providing a summary of their research focus.