ITE-STEP has hosted and participated in activities from presentations with local transportation experts, bike rides, transportation knowledge competition, and walking paths exploring what Portland and surrounding areas has to offer. 

The Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (ITE-STEP) at Portland State University (PSU) has been a key conduit for creating opportunities for professional and academic development. The club is supported by PSU’s Student Activities and Leadership Programs and PacTrans and also serves as the student chapter for the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). With the end of the academic year, we wanted to share more about these student leaders.

For outgoing ITE-STEP President Elias Peters, public transit and active tr…

Former Congressman Earl Blumenauer presents to the 2026 Community Transportation Academy cohort. 

“This incredible curriculum seriously upleveled my knowledge base and confidence level to become more active in transit advocacy,” 2026 Community Transportation Academy (CTA) attendee Lauren Armony said. “[It] gave me, an adult community member, the rare and exciting opportunity to learn more about regional transportation policy and planning with university students, and meet other interested peers for free!” 

As the 2026 CTA comes to an end, we reflect on this program’s history, growth, and impact. The CTA helps community members familiarize themselves with the agencies, plans, decisions, investments, and discussions that result in transportation systems. State and local transportation topics are covered, delivered by PSU faculty, researchers, and transportation experts from Portland and beyond. This ye…

Left to right: MURP student working with C-TRAN to improve bus stop ADA accessibility speaks with a motorized wheelchair user at a bus stop; the Kernside Traffic Control Plan team gathers by a poster of their project; the Tualatin Boones Ferry Walkability team also gathers around their project poster. 

Earlier in June, Portland State University’s Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) undergraduate students and Masters of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) students concluded the spring quarter with final project presentations. A handful of the final projects focused on transportation, addressing issues ranging from ADA accessibility and street design to walkability and the Green Loop. 

Master of Urban Planning (MURP) Workshop Projects

Bus Stop Accessibility Action Plan for C-TRAN

Team: Grace Alston, Mich…

Curb extensions are relatively understudied and there are few robust studies on tactical curb extensions, including those with mural art. This new research aims to change that. The report “Evaluation of Different Curb Extension Treatments for Pedestrian Comfort and Safety at Intersections,” from the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University (PSU) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) is out now. 

The study found that curb extensions have statistically significant impacts on pedestrian and motorist behavior and suggests that tactical curb extensions with or without mural art offer a feasible alternative to improve pedestrian satisfaction and safety compared to control locat…

Portland State University has named Sirisha Kothuri, a Senior Research Associate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, as the recipient of the 2025 Research Award for Non-tenure-track Faculty. This honor recognizes her extraordinary contributions to the field of multimodal traffic operations, management, and safety, and her dedication to improving safety for the most vulnerable road users.

Since starting as a Research Associate in 2014, Kothuri has established herself as a leading national expert in active transportation data. One of her groundbreaking achievements involves developing methods to use pedestrian push buttons at traffic signals to estimate walking volumes—a task previously considered too difficult and expensive for most agencies. The work has been validated through …