This article was authored by Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland on February 28, 2019. See the original article here.
Most close watchers of the Portland transportation world have heard of Better Block PDX. They’re the scrappy group of tactical urbanism activists who burst onto the scene by creating a public plaza in auto parking spaces along a block of SW Harvey Milk Street in 2013. They went on to lead successful projects on SW 3rd Avenue and Naito Parkway that led to permanent changes in our streetscape....
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A new report by Christopher Monsere and Sirisha Kothuri, researchers in Portland State University's department of civil and environmental engineering, found a direct correlation between increased speed limits and an increase in serious crashes in Eastern Oregon. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) funded the study examining issues related to changes in posted speed limits.
Speed limits on approximately 1,400 miles of highways and interstates in Eastern Oregon were increased by the Oregon legislature effective March 1, 2016. Using four years of data, Monsere, Kothuri and researcher Jason Anderson examined speeds in relation to crash frequency and severity from the year after the speed limits increased compared with the three previous years. On sections where the speed limit was raised to 65 mph for trucks (primarily the interstates), truck-involved crashes more than doubled.
In response to this study, ODOT is already taking some safety measures after PSU’s analysis. Learn more in the East...
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For the second year in a row, we're opening up an exciting opportunity for undergraduate students interested in transportation: Spend a summer at Portland State University to learn more about the world of research in transportation through our Transportation Undergraduate Research Fellowship (TURF) program. This program is open to current undergraduate students from any university who are interested in learning more about transportation engineering or planning research.
Hosted at PSU, selected students will be paired with a PSU faculty mentor (from either the College of Urban and Public Affairs or the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science). The student will carry out research on a transportation project for ten weeks at 40 hours per week. TURF Fellows are provided a $7,500 stipend, but must find and fund their own lodging.
Decisions will be made by March 29, 2019. Contact us at asktrec@pdx.edu with any questions.
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Seven Portland State University graduate students received Eisenhower Fellowships presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation at this year's annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB): Mike McQueen, Travis Glick, Greg Norton, Jael Wettach-Glosser and Santiago Espinosa Wild of the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science, and Baxter Shandobil and Kelly Rodgers of the Nohad Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University.
Glick, Norton and Wettach-Glosser also won Eisenhower Fellowships last year, making this their second year in a row to earn the prestigious award.
If you missed seeing these students present at TRB, it's not too late to check out their research! You can catch up with them on February 7 at TRB Aftershock, where Portland State students' TRB posters will be on display in the Engineering Building.
Read about other Portland State University research at TRB by checking out our 2019 Highlights.
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Each year, Portland State University researchers make a showing at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and 2019 so far is living up to expectations. See below for a few highlights from the more than 26 PSU researchers (including 11 students) who are presenting this year in D.C., and follow us on Twitter for live updates. See when & where all PSU researchers will be presenting in our handy guide.
Download the PSU at TRB 2019 Guide (PDF).
Also, we invite you to a scavenger hunt: Visit PSU poster sessions to collect all of this year's TREC at TRB sticker variants!
Monday, January 14 (3:45pm–5:30pm)
Current Issues in Alternative Transportation Fuels and Technologies Poster Session
John Macarthur of the Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) and graduate student Michael Harpool will present "Survey of Oregon Electric Vehicle Owners: Understanding...
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As transit agencies modernize their fare payment systems, opportunities to pay with cash diminish. This speeds boarding and lowers the cost of operations, while also creating new sources of ridership data. Arguably, service is improved for riders as well, where payment systems work across modes, and in some cases different transit providers, creating a more seamless and simplified experience. Still, about 15% of adults in the United States are without a bank account or credit card, and many rely on restrictive cell-phone data plans or don’t have access to a smartphone. These shares are even higher for public transit users. As transit fare technologies move further from cash, these digitally-excluded riders will find it more difficult to conveniently pay their transit fares.
In the latest project to be funded under the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC)'s Pooled Fund grant program, researchers from...
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This article was cross-posted from Portland State University news.
The Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University is pleased to announce that Professor Kelly Clifton has accepted the position of Associate Dean for Research (ADR). This role will provide leadership for research excellence that supports the mission and vision of the College. The ADR will oversee the research portfolio in the College and will be responsible for growing the College’s funded research portfolio. Dr. Clifton brings much research experience to the position, as well as a career involving interdisciplinary collaboration, development of partnerships, engineering and planning expertise, and more.
Dr. Clifton looks forward to her new role and stated, “As the Associate Dean of Research for MCECS, I am excited to be a part of this next phase of growth and development of the college. I look forward to working with our talented faculty, staff, and students to advance our research enterprise and grow our capacity to engage in scientific exploration and discovery. At MCECS and the larger PSU community, we direct our energies toward activities that aim to make a difference.”
Dr. Clifton will...
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A new report from Portland State University's Institute for Sustainable Solutions suggests that the most effective policies to support the growth of electric vehicles in the City of Portland would be those that target low-income drivers. The report is part of a collaborative project between Portland State University and the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to further goals in the Portland Climate Action Plan.
THE RESEARCH TEAM
The collaborative research team included Ingrid Fish from the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability; John MacArthur and Kelly Clifton, who are both...
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Travis Glick, Portland State University
Travis Glick is a PhD student, graduate teaching and research assistant in civil & environmental engineering at Portland State University. He served for two years as president of Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP), Portland State University's transportation student group. Travis is a 2018 NITC student scholar and two-time Eisenhower fellow, and will be presenting research on bus dwell times, bus-bike conflicts and transit modeling at the 2019 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).
Tell us about yourself?
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Transportation defines Portland, Oregon. Portland State University (PSU) shapes transportation professionals who, in turn, shape cities across the world. Our students conduct cutting-edge research under the guidance of the world’s foremost transportation research faculty at PSU - from both the Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning and the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering of MCECS.
WHAT MAKES TRANSPORTATION UNIQUE AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY (PSU)?
A PSU research center dedicated to transportation: Students have the advantage of TREC - the Transportation Research and Education Center which is home to one of five national university transportation centers. We lead the National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC), a six-university consortium that receives an average of $4.4 million per year from the U.S. DOT to support transportation research projects and students. PSU also supports other related research centers on smart cities, population, aging and more.
An active and engaged...