PSU Will Work With Oregon Department of Transportation to Advance Safety At Intersections
Can changing the timing of traffic signals improve pedestrian safety?
Portland State University (PSU) researchers want to find out. To help make Oregon's road safer for everyone, the university is launching a new study. Funded by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), the project is led by Sirisha Kothuri of PSU and Patrick Singleton of Utah State University.
Many states, including Oregon, are adopting the Safe System approach to improve traffic safety. One key element of this approach is safer speeds.
Most pedestrian crashes occur on higher-speed, multi-lane arterials. It is generally accepted that automobile speeds play an important role in safety: The faster a car is traveling, the greater the risk of severe injury to vulnerable road users (like people who are walking or bicycling) in a collision.
To manage speed in the urban environment, one emerging strategy is to use traffic signals. Traditional traffic signal timing strategies have prioritized vehicle travel at the expense of other users such as pedestrians, and do not directly account for the safety of road users.
Traffic signal control strategies to improve safety and the pedestrian experience exist, but few have been evaluated for their effectiveness. Strategies include reducing cycle lengths, adjusting signal timing based on traffic volumes, time of day schedule...
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The Better Block PSU program at Portland State University (PSU) has opened our annual call for community organizations to reimagine their streets and underused public spaces in a way to bring people together and reclaim it for their community’s future.
Fill out the project inquiry form by March 10 to submit your project idea!
A partnership between the public spaces advocacy nonprofit Better Block PDX and the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at PSU, students in the Better Block PSU program have developed plans and designs for many community-driven projects that promote equitable placemaking, community building, and active transportation–including the well-known Better Naito project. What began as a PSU student-led initiative for safer and higher capacity bicycle and pedestrian facilities along the Waterfront Park, has gained so much public support that it was ...
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Pedestrians are unlikely to use a marked crosswalk if it is too far out of their way. So how far is too far?
Like so many other things in transportation engineering, the answer is dependent on the context. In this case, variables may include the surrounding roadway characteristics, traffic, and the type of crossing facilities that are available. A pedestrian's decisions can also be affected by how far they are walking, how many streets they have to cross, and other factors.
Researchers at Portland State University (PSU) are embarking on a new study to determine the optimal spacing between marked crosswalks.
Based on their findings, the team will create a tool to inform transportation agencies when to add marked crosswalks (also known as zebra crossings) at unmarked intersections and midblock crossing locations.
Funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), the research team is led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and includes the University of New Mexico; Joe Broach, Sirisha Kothuri and Nathan McNeil of PSU; and Rebecca Sanders of Safe Streets Research & Consulting.
WHY IS THE RESEARCH IMPORTANT?
An estimated 6,205 pedestrians were killed in traffic collisions in the United States in 2019, and over 80% of those pedestrian fatalities occurred at unmarked midblock locations.
To reduce fatalities and injuries, agencies need to...
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Two Portland State University students were awarded Dwight D. Eisenhower transportation fellowships this month at the 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). Kayla Sorenson and Ana Tijerina Esquino, both graduate students in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at PSU, were presented with the awards by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). This was the second Eisenhower for Sorenson, who also received the fellowship last year. See below for a short interview with each of the PSU Eisenhower Fellows, and if you missed TRB this year, check out some of the PSU research highlights.
Ana Tijerina Esquino
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One of the most common locations for fatal motor vehicle–bicyclist crashes is at intersections. A newly published report offers guidance for improving intersection safety, especially in situations where a bike is traveling straight through an intersection and a car is turning across the cyclist's path.
The objective of the study was to develop guidelines and tools for transportation practitioners to reduce and manage conflicts between bicyclists and drivers turning at signalized intersections.
"Reducing Conflicts Between Turning Motor Vehicles and Bicycles: Decision Tool and Design Guidelines" was funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), a program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The research was led by Toole Design in partnership with Portland State University (PSU), Safe Streets Research and Consulting (SS) and Oregon State University (OSU). The PSU team members were Chris Monsere, Sirisha Kothuri and Jason Anderson of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Nathan McNeil of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC).
WHAT DID THE RESEARCHERS STUDY?
The research team conducted crash analysis, video-based...
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Several Portland State University (PSU) students worked on research projects that will be shared at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). We're proud to have high-caliber students at PSU who are contributing to the discussion and technology transfer at the largest transportation conference in the world. See below for a quick look at each student, and check out the PSU program for more details!
Evan Howington
Session: Emerging Topics in Bicycling and Micromobility
Evan Howington is a master's student in urban and regional planning. He currently works as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) at TREC, supporting faculty advisors John MacArthur and Nathan McNeil.
Evan will be presenting research in a lectern session on January...
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The 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) will take place in Washington, DC. from January 5–9, 2025. Faculty and students from Portland State University (PSU) will be sharing their research and expertise across multiple sessions at the event, which typically attracts over 13,000 attendees each year, making it one of the largest gatherings of transportation professionals and researchers in the world. See below for a few highlights from sessions involving PSU faculty, and check out our student feature story to see what PSU students are doing at TRB. For a full list of sessions with PSU presenters, see the PSU at TRB 2025 Program.
Data Showcase: PORTAL and BikePed Portal
PORTAL and BikePed Portal will both be featured in a lectern session on January 8 at 3:45 PM- 5:30 PM: Visualization in Transportation Lightning Talks.
Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) maintains two large, public transportation data lakes: ...
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Winter term classes begin January 6 at Portland State, and there are some exciting transportation courses available this term. Not a current PSU student? You can still take a course: Anyone interested can register for classes through the non-degree application process, as a post-baccalaureate student, or for free if you're a senior citizen. Taking a course can be a good way to see if one of our graduate degree programs is right for you.
Check out the listings below to see what's on offer at PSU.
New Program: Urban Studies and Planning Bachelor + Master (B+M)
The Toulan School at Portland State University has recently added a new enrollment option called the Urban Studies and Planning Bachelor + Master (B+M) Program. The B+M allows junior- and senior-level students enrolled in the undergraduate Community Urban Studies and...
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Over the past several years, in a series of research projects, researchers at Portland State University (PSU) have been developing a new approach to estimate active transportation volumes using machine learning.
This emerging method, which can predict how many people will be biking or walking on any given road, trail or segment of a transportation network at any time, offers promising applications for transportation agencies and state departments of transportation (DOTs). These organizations can use accurate bicycle and pedestrian volume information to track changes over time, prioritize projects, plan and design new infrastructure, conduct safety analyses and estimate public health impacts.
"These methods are still evolving, and it's still in the research phase. But I think the time is not far off when we will start using these methods as more mainstream," said Sirisha Kothuri of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, the lead researcher on this series of projects.
The method Kothuri and other researchers are developing is referred to as "data fusion" because it involves combining multiple data sources, including traditional permanent and short-term counting methods as well as newer crowdsourced data streams from entities like Strava and Streetlight.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Traditional permanent and short-term counting methods can directly provide counts, but are limited to certain...
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The Bike Bus movement is gaining momentum. All over the country, rain or shine, groups of children with adult supervision are hopping on bikes to ride to school together, and the new organization Bike Bus World, led by Coach Sam Balto, has received official nonprofit status.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $1.1 million federal grant from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program was awarded to Metro. The funds will be used to boost walking school bus and bike bus programs in north Portland. Read more about the new award on BikePortland.
Benefits of the Bike Bus go beyond physical activity: It's an opportunity for kids and parents to socialize, have fun, start the day on a positive note, and save time on driving, parking, and waiting in school dropoff lines.
According to Portland State University (PSU) researchers, bike buses could be the missing puzzle piece required to complete a robust active...
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Portland State University (PSU) researchers have partnered with TriMet to evaluate the design of a new shared-use bus platform that incorporates a sidewalk-level bike lane. The project, FX2 Shared Bicycle & Pedestrian Platform Evaluation, assessed how well the new design is working for transit riders and other road users along Portland's Southeast Division Street.
The most common bus and bike lane design typically has a bike lane directly adjacent to the right side of the bus lane with no physical barrier. This presents several safety concerns. In this scenario, a bike behind a bus would have to wait behind or pass the bus by riding into traffic. As vulnerable road users, these conflicts pose a potentially serious risk to bicyclists.
The FX2-Division is a Frequent Express (FX) bus line that runs from downtown Portland to Gresham. The transit service began operations in September 2022. To accommodate passing bicyclists and transit riders accessing the new FX2 line, TriMet worked with the City of Portland and a broad group of stakeholders and partners to create a design that would allow bikes to stay separated from automobile traffic, with the bikeway passing through the platform area next to where people wait for the...
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