Through a series of research projects in Utah and Oregon (including a collaboration with PSU's Sirisha Kothuri), Patrick's research has demonstrated the value of pedestrian push-button data for helping monitor and estimate pedestrian crossing volumes at signalized intersections.

Patrick Singleton graduated from Portland State University's Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) program with a Ph.D. in 2017. He now works as an Associate Professor in transportation at Utah State University, researching travel behavior, transportation planning, and traffic safety.   

What do you do in your current role, and what does a typical day look like?

My current role as an associate professor involves a combination of research, teaching, and service. In research, I lead transportation research…

Photo credit Jason Li-Zhao.

Better Block PSU is a partnership program between the volunteer-led group Better Block PDX and Portland State University - encouraging everyone to imagine what spaces could be when they are designed for people. Local community partners can submit their project ideas to be considered at any time. These projects promote equitable placemaking, community building, and active transportation advocacy.

We're thrilled to announce six new projects have been selected to begin Phase 1 in 2026. The projects will be integrated into PSU's Active Transportation Planning course, where students will apply a number of planning methods and skills to initiate the planning process. We will provide more updates as each project progresses through the Better Block pathway.

NW Couch Street Pedestrianization
Located along NW Couch Street between NW 10th and NW 13th Avenues near Powell's City of Books, this Downtown/Pearl Dis…

TREC recently wrapped up its 17th annual Comprehensive Bikeway Design workshop. Since 2009, we've invited city planners, engineers, students, and anyone else to join us for a week-long deep dive into bikeway design in the Portland metropolitan area. From curb heights to conflict zones to innovative bicycle signals and more, participants explore creative solutions and unique constraints in Portland's bicycle infrastructure.

"It's amazing to see the interest from around the country and even the world," John MacArthur, TREC Interim Director said. "Portland truly is a living lab for bikeway innovation, so we love sharing what we've learned and seeing people get inspired to take ideas back to their cities."

This year's workshop hosted participants from places like Charlotte, Cleveland, Tucson,  Seattle, and even Barbados. During the week-long course, they split time between…

TREC recently hosted a workshop for the United Nations Development Program in Brazil (UNDP) and Infra SA, a public corporation that provides transport planning and engineering in Brazil, as they paid a visit to Portland to learn more about best practices for melding housing and transit to better serve residents.

Our daylong workshop brought together agencies working in the area of transit-oriented development (TOD) in the Portland region, including Metro, TriMet, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH), and the City of Hillsboro. The workshop included site visits to several sites in Washington County along the MAX Red/Blue line. 

"It was inspiring to see everyone come together to share and collaborate ideas," said Nathan McNeil, TREC Research Associate and workshop leader. "The Portland attendees were great about sharing their knowledge and expertise with not only the visiting UNDP and Infra teams, but w…

Phil Longenecker graduated from Portland State University's Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program in 2021. He now works as an Associate Planner at Alta Planning + Design specializing in bicycle and pedestrian network planning and facility design, cartography, data analysis and visualization, and new mobility projects.

What do you do in your current role, and what does a typical day look like?

Working for a consulting firm means I get to work on projects in many different places, which gives me a fun perspective on just how many communities are working toward safer streets. Progress is rarely linear, so even when there are setbacks or delays in one place, it’s really rewarding to see major progress happening somewhere else. 

I work on a team that does all kinds of active transportation work, helping cities, counties, and states plan for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. I appreciate that this work operates at different scale…