portland state university | Transportation Research and Education Center

Cyclists riding toward a green bike signal

Engineering Solutions for Safer Cycling: Bike Signal Timing and Crash Prediction

May 17, 2018

Principal Investigator: Sirisha Kothuri, Portland State University

Project Overview:
Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts with Alternate Signal Control Strategies -and-
Improving Bicycle Crash Prediction for Urban Road Segments

Learn more about this research by viewing the Executive Summaries, related presentations, and the full Final Report on each Project Overview page.

Sirisha Kothuri, a Portland State University research associate, has recently completed two distinct studies taking different approaches to advancing bicycle safety. Kothuri will lead a Sept. 13 workshop on Bicycle/Pedestrian Focused Signal Timing Strategies along with Peter Koonce, the division manager of Signals & Street Lighting for the City of Portland. The half-day workshop will be part of Transportation and Communities 2018, a two-day...

TREC Prepares Cities with Transportation Hazard Recovery Plans

May 11, 2018

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur, Portland State University

Project Overview: Smart, Shared, and Social: Enhancing All-Hazards Transportation Recovery Plans with Demand Management Strategies and Technologies

Learn more about this research by viewing related publications on the Project Overview page.

Quickly regaining use of a city's transportation system after a major disaster is critical to relief efforts. To help cities recover from emergency situations, TREC is working to develop a transportation recovery plan that includes transit, travel demand management (TDM), social media, and intelligent technologies.

The plan is supported by a research grant awarded to Portland State University by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), as part of its Innovative Safety, Resiliency, and All Hazards Emergency...

The Fun of Biking With the Ease of Driving: E-Bikes Offer Both

Apr 05, 2018

Principal Investigators: John MacArthur, Portland State University; and Christopher Cherry, University of Tennessee

Project Overview: National Electric Bike Owner Survey

Learn more about this education project by viewing the Executive Summary and the full Final Report on the Project Overview page.

If more drivers switched seats to a bicycle, there would be immediate and tangible benefits on the road. Widespread adoption of bike commuting could improve public health through increased physical activity and reduced carbon emissions, as well as ease the burden on congested roads. However different lifestyle demands, physical ableness, and varied topography create an unequal playing field that prevents many from replacing their car trips.

Electric bicycles (e-bikes) are a relatively new mode of transportation that could bridge this gap. If substituted for car use, e-bikes could substantially improve efficiency in the transportation system while creating a more inclusive biking culture for people of all ages and abilities.

A newly published NITC study by John MacArthur of...

FHWA Guidebook for Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity Released

Mar 20, 2018

This article was cross-posted from Alta Planning + Design. Tune in April 24 for a PBIC webinar covering this guide from FHWA.

At the National Bike Summit, U. S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the publication of the Federal Highway Administration’s new resource on Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity. The guidebook focuses on pedestrian and bicycle network connectivity and provides information on incorporating connectivity measures into state, metropolitan, and local transportation planning processes. Alta, in partnership with ...

Eisenhower Fellowships Awarded to Four Portland State University Students

Mar 14, 2018

Four 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): David R. Soto Padín, Travis Glick, Gregory Norton and Jael Wettach-Glosser are all civil engineering students in the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science at Portland State University.

David Soto Padín, current President of Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) at PSU, presented his research in a poster, "Bikeshare + Transit Integration: Best Practices for Increasing Ridership (PDF)," during TRB's Eisenhower Fellowship poster session. He will be working on researching bike share as a "last mile" mode choice for rail rapid transit in the American context. He also presented research on bicyclist positioning behavior at signalized...

Student Spotlight: Maria Sipin, Portland State University

Feb 28, 2018

Maria Sipin, Graduate Assistant, Portland State University

Maria Sipin is a Portland State University grad student in Urban Planning and Public Health, and an IBPI Active Transportation Scholar. Watch Maria's video, "Communicating Intersections," on the power that transportation planners have to affect positive, equitable change in our daily lives. Or, read the 2018 final report she co-authored "Elevating People: Planning for Equitable Travel to Marquam Hill" - a report on OHSU’s vision for diversity and inclusion and their goals to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips and promote the increased use of sustainable multimodal transportation.

IBPI 2017 - 2018 Scholar| LinkedIn | PSU Institute for Sustainable Solutions Staff Member

Tell us about yourself:

I started grad school in fall 2016, just a week after moving to Portland from Los...

The Research Continues for More Equitable Bike Share

Feb 12, 2018

Principal Investigator: Nathan McNeil, Portland State University

Project Overview: Evaluating Efforts to Improve the Equity of Bike Share Systems

Learn more about this research by viewing the Summary Report, related publications and the three Final Reports from each phase of the research on the Project Overview page. Hear firsthand from the researchers by watching the August 2017 webinar.

The third and final phase of our bike share equity research project has been published, with new findings from a survey of bike share users.

Riders targeted for equity-focused outreach efforts—lower-income individuals and people of color—were most likely to cite cost savings or discounted membership as reasons why they joined, while higher-income and white users were more likely to cite the convenience of using bike share. Lower-income riders were also more...

NITC Invites Submissions for 2018 General Research RFP

Feb 05, 2018

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) program has released its 2018 general research request for proposals. Faculty at NITC's partner universities* are invited to submit abstracts by April 2, 2018.

Through funding provided by the U.S. DOT, we will award at least $1 million under our general research grant in 2018 for projects that support NITC’s theme: improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities. Our theme includes a few key topics:

Increasing access to opportunities
Improving multi-modal planning and shared use of infrastructure
Advancing innovation and smart cities
Developing data, models, and tools

Research projects must focus on transportation, with additional consideration given to projects that emphasize equity and diversity in their research and partnerships. We’re seeking projects that demonstrate a strong potential to move transportation research into practice, shape national and international conversations, and respond to the needs of practitioners and policymakers.

Priority is given to projects that are collaborative, multidisciplinary, multi-campus, and support the development of untenured-tenure-track transportation faculty.

Key Dates

Abstracts due: April 2...

NITC Supports the Creation of New Data Science Curriculum

Jan 17, 2018

Principal Investigator: Liming Wang, Portland State University

Project Overview: Introduction to Scientific Computing for Planners, Engineers, and Scientists

Learn more about this curriculum and how you can apply it at your school by viewing the one-page Executive Summary and the full Final Report on the Project Overview page.

A NITC education grant funded a new course for planners, engineers, scientists and students to help improve their data processing workflow.

Liming Wang, an assistant professor in the Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning at Portland State University, is on a mission to simplify data processing. A NITC education grant supported his efforts to develop a new course: Introduction to Data Science (Aug 6 - 10, 2018). The course is designed to help students and professionals to improve their workflow for data-intensive research. The course covers how to collect data, clean them up, visualize, explore, model and eventually compile the data with findings in a report.

"I've pretty...

NITC Announces Funding for Six New "Small Starts" Projects

Nov 13, 2017

Our National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) research program has awarded grant funding for a new series of Small Starts projects.

Small Starts grants assist researchers who are interested in transportation but have not yet had an opportunity to undertake a small project—$15,000 in funding or less—that supports NITC's theme of safe, healthy and sustainable transportation choices to foster livable communities.

The latest projects selected by NITC's executive committee support that theme in exploring livable streets, multimodal safety and transportation efficiency.

The six newly funded projects are:

Is There a "Buy Local" Case for Lower Travel Speeds? Testing Differences in Driver Recognition of Local Versus National Retail at Different Travel Speeds—Jonathan Bean and Arlie Adkins, University of Arizona (Full Proposal)
How Will Autonomous Vehicles Change Local Government Budgeting and Finance? A Case Study of Solid Waste, Drop-off/Pick-up Zones, and Parking—Benjamin Clark, University of Oregon (...

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