Research Projects | Transportation Research and Education Center

NSF Collaborative Research: RAPID: Maintain Mobility and Reduce Infection Through a Resilient Transit and Micromobility System

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to health, the economy, and transportation systems in cities. The key strategy to combat growth in the infection rate is through "social distancing," maintaining physical separation from othe ... Read More

Homelessness: A Guide for Public Transportation (TCRP J-11/Task 40)

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur

Co-Investigator: Marisa Zapata

Unemployment, low wages, poverty, and lack of affordable housing are the main drivers of an increasing homeless population throughout the U.S. in recent years. Transit agencies are being impacted by homelessness. While transit agencies cannot address ... Read More

Active Transportation Return on Investment Study

Principal Investigator: Jennifer Dill

Co-Investigators: Jenny Liu , Marisa Zapata

The Active Transportation Return on Investment (ATROI) study aimed to provide a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the benefits of active transportation infrastructure in the Portland, OR region. The study used a selection of projects constru ... Read More

Bi-objective Optimization for Battery Electric Bus Deployment Considering Cost and Environmental Equity

Principal Investigator: Xiaoyue Cathy Liu

Co-Investigators: Aaron Golub , Ran Wei

Led by Xiaoyue Cathy Liu of the University of Utah, researchers have created a web-based modeling tool that enables U.S. transit providers to explore the impacts of changing over their systems to battery electric buses, or BEBs. The researchers ran ... Read More

Methodologies to Quantify Transit Performance Metrics at the System-Level

Principal Investigator: Travis Glick

Performance metrics have typically focused at two main scales: a microscopic scale that focuses on specific locations, time-periods, and trips; and, a macroscopic scale that averages metrics over longer times, entire routes, and networks. When applie ... Read More

National Scan of Bike Share Equity Programs

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur

Co-Investigators: Nathan McNeil , Joe Broach

As bike share systems around the United States have grown in number and size in recent years, there has been an increasing effort to ensure that those systems are accessible to all residents, particularly those who have the fewest resources or have b ... Read More

Effect of Residential Street Speed Limit Reduction from 25 to 20 mi/hr on Driving Speeds in Portland, Oregon

Principal Investigator: Christopher Monsere

Co-Investigators: Sirisha Kothuri , Jason Anderson

In 2015, the City of Portland adopted Vision Zero's objective of eliminating transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries. Speed, through analysis of crash data, was determined to be a contributing factor in 47% of the fatal crashes observe ... Read More

Novel Approaches to Model Travel Behavior and Sustainability Impacts of E-Bike Use

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur

Co-Investigator: Christopher Cherry

Electric bikes (e-bikes) are a new mode of transportation that could substantially improve efficiency in the transportation system if adopted as substitutes for cars. Researchers at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Portland State University, and ... Read More

Suburban Black Poverty in East Portland: The Role of Transportation in Making Ends Meet

Principal Investigator: Steven Howland

Portland has faced a mass displacement of Black households from the historically segregated area of Albina through various phases of urban renewal, urban deterioration, and gentrification. A substantial number of them have moved to East Portland, a s ... Read More

Land Use and Transportation Policies for a Sustainable Future with Autonomous Vehicles: Scenario Analysis with Simulations

Principal Investigator: Liming Wang

Co-Investigator: Yao-Jan Wu

Even though there are tremendous uncertainties in the timing and evolution path of the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) technology, it may become a likely reality within most MPOs' long-range regional transportation plan horizon of twenty years. Yet a recent ... Read More

Bicycle Detection and Feedback Assessment

Principal Investigator: Christopher Monsere

Co-Investigators: David Hurwitz , Sirisha Kothuri

Bicycling is increasing in the United States -- the number of trips made by bicycle more than doubled from 1.7 billion trips in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009 (National Household Travel Survey, 2009). With the increase in bicycling rates, there is a criti ... Read More

Addressing Oregon’s Rise in Deaths and Serious Injuries for Senior Drivers and Pedestrians

Principal Investigator: Christopher Monsere

Co-Investigators: Sirisha Kothuri , Jason Anderson , David Hurwitz

The research reviewed best practices, identified overrepresentations of serious crashes involving older drivers and pedestrians using Oregon crash data, and mapped the best practices and countermeasures. From 2013 to 2016, there were 884 older driver ... Read More