PSU Transportation Seminar: GHG Inventory from Building Washington State Department of Transportation Roadways

Friday, October 18, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PDT

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

    THE TOPIC 

    State departments of transportation (DOTs) are increasingly focusing on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially with new regulations like the Buy Clean Acts in California, Oregon, and Washington. This project, in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), aims to assess the agency's carbon emissions through a life cycle assessment of construction materials such as cement, concrete, steel, and asphalt, which are now under heightened scrutiny.

    While WSDOT has already implemented strategies to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (related to direct and energy-related activities), there has been limited focus on Scope 3 emissions—those generated upstream in the supply chain. This life cycle assessment reveals that Scope 3 emissions from materials used in WSDOT’s roadways contribute over half of the agency’s total GHG emissions, averaging 310 thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent annually.

    The study emphasizes the critical need to address these...

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    PSU Transportation Seminar: Bike Buses: An Evaluation of An Emerging Active Transportation to School Intervention

    Friday, October 25, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PDT

    Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

      THE TOPIC 

      Bike Buses are a relatively new form of Active Transportation to School (ATS) that have gained popularity in Europe and the United States in recent years. Generally, a bike bus consists of one or more adult supervisors, often parents, who guide a group of students along a defined ‘route’ to one or more schools. Using literature from the last 15 years published on ATS in North America, we identify four thematic areas of influence on Bike Buses: school policies, parent and student attitudes and behaviors, the urban environment, and the street environment. We conclude that Bike Buses can be situated within the larger body of literature about ATS and Safe Routes to Schools (SRTS) but deserve research on their own merits for a variety of reasons. The presentation will also present findings from surveys of bike bus coordinators and parents at schools with bike buses in Portland, Oregon.

      KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

      • Understand how Bike Buses fit within the larger framework of SRTS and Active...
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      PSU Transportation Seminar: Let Knowledge Serve the City! A Decade of Better Block PSU Projects

      Friday, November 1, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PDT

      Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

        THE TOPIC 

        Better Block PSU works with Planning and Civil Engineering students to bring community ideas to life!  Over the last 10 years, the pathway has resulted in many real world pop ups and capital projects implemented by volunteers and PBOT.

        KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

        • Student work has been crucial to advancing difficult conversations within the bureaucracy & bureaus
        • Create win win opportunities to share credit with civic leaders and electeds
        • Celebrate the internal staff who are project champions

        SPEAKER

        Ryan Hashagen, Director, Better Block PDX; Founder, Icicle Tricycles

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        PSU Transportation Seminar: Division Transit project, signal priority

        Friday, November 8, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PST

        Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

          THE TOPIC 

          More information coming soon!

          SPEAKER

          Mark Haines, Portland Bureau of Transportation

          PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

          This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We can provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

          ADD IT TO YOUR CALENDAR

          Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and...

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          PSU Transportation Seminar: Addressing Transportation Emissions through State Climate and Energy Policy

          Friday, November 15, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PST

          Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

            THE TOPIC 

            Oregon has adopted policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and transportation sectors. This presentation will provide some background on these policy frameworks and explore how these policies impact transportation fuels and the transportation sector more broadly.

            KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

            • Develop a general or better understanding of Oregon's energy and climate policy mechanisms and the interplay between them;
            • Understand how Oregon's policies impact the transportation sector;
            • Understand some of the costs, benefits, and other implications for consumers and businesses; and
            • Gain an understanding of some of the legal and regulatory constraints affecting transportation decarbonization.

            SPEAKER

            Amy Schlusser, Climate Policy Lead, Oregon Department of Energy

            PSU Transportation Seminar: EV Charging at Multifamily Properties: Moving Beyond Barriers

            Friday, November 22, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PST

            Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

              THE TOPIC 

              Transportation is the top contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the US and light-duty vehicles are the #1 contributor to transportation emissions. Mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is key in the fight toward a more sustainable future, but there are several factors that have delayed our transition to EVs.

              EV charging at home is the most convenient and cost-effective charging option for EV drivers, but people living in multifamily housing face serious barriers to accessing home charging. During this session, we will explore why EV charging at multifamily housing is critical to mass adoption of EVs, barriers to charging access at multifamily developments, and potential solutions. Among the solutions discussed, we will delve into Forth's experiences with carshare located at affordable housing developments.

              KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

              • Until access to EV charging at home is as easy for multifamily residents as single-family home residents, EV adoption rates in MFH locations...
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              PSU Transportation Seminar: Metro Smart Climate Strategy

              Friday, December 6, 2024, 11:30am to 12:30pm PST

              Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. We've opened up PSU Transportation Seminars to other days of the week, but the format is the same: Feel free to bring your lunch! If you can't join us in person, you can always watch online via Zoom.

                THE TOPIC 

                More info coming soon!

                SPEAKERS

                Thaya Patton, Metro

                Jonathan Slason, RSG

                PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

                This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We can provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

                ADD IT TO YOUR CALENDAR

                Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through...

                Read more