portland state university | Transportation Research and Education Center

What Makes Transportation Unique at Portland State University?

Dec 06, 2018

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...

TREC Education Library: Looking Back at 2018

Dec 06, 2018

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State is committed to open-access learning. Grounded in research, we connect students and professionals to current best practices in transportation through free webinars and seminars open to the public. Since 2002, we have maintained an extensive education library, archiving over 500 hours of these videos and countless megabytes of reading material.

Want to learn on your own time and/or earn professional development credits (AICP, and more)? Explore the TREC Education Library, or check out our “Top Ten” list below.

TREC TOP TEN: GREATEST MOBILITY HITS of 2018

Below are our most popular presentations from 2018 - watched by a combined total of 2,367 viewers:

An Accessible Approach to Shared Streets

January 25, 2018 (Webinar)

Janet Barlow, Accessible Design for the Blind; Jim Elliott, Toole Design Group; Dan Goodman, Federal Highway Administration

Hear from members of the team who...

Info Session: Apply to be a MURP at Portland State for 2019

Online Info Session: PSU Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP)

Dec 05, 2018

WATCH THE RECORDED VIDEO

INFO SESSION OVERVIEW

Thinking about a graduate degree in urban and regional planning? Do you have questions about the Portland State University program? Looking for tips on how to write a great application? You're not alone! Join us on December 13 for an online information session designed to get you the information you need.

Learn more about the MURP program here - where you can read up on seven reasons to become a MURP, meet the faculty, and see FAQ answered.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

Meet our faculty and current students
Learn how the program works and what makes it unique
Explore all the ways Portland is the perfect place to get a planning education
Ask your questions and get answers

The priority application deadline for Fall...

PSU Study Will Develop Improved Methods for Shipping Freight

Nov 19, 2018

Principal Investigator: Avinash Unnikrishnan, Portland State University

Project Overview: Real-Time Stochastic Matching Models for Freight Electronic Marketplace

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

This article was authored by Shaun McGillis of Portland State University Research & Graduate Studies on October 5, 2018 and cross-posted from Portland State University news.

The movement of goods throughout the supply chain is complex, fraught with uncertainties, and not without room for improvement. Portland State University recently received a $167,000 grant to support research investigating the development and evaluation of an intelligent freight transportation matching system. The system could improve freight and trucking networks critical to supply chain performance by reducing inefficient capacity—the problem of keeping trucks full of cargo while they’re on the road.

Where Do Emerging Travel Modes Fit Into Regional Models?

Nov 15, 2018

Photo by Felix Tchverkin on Unsplash

Principal Investigator: Liming Wang, Portland State University

Project Overview: Incorporate Emerging Travel Modes in the Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) Tool

Learn more about this research by viewing related publications, open-source data, and the full Final Report on the Project Overview page.

The latest report from The National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) offers help to planners seeking to incorporate emerging travel modes—including car sharing, bike sharing, ride hailing, and autonomous vehicles—into regional travel demand models. More specifically, it brings these new travel modes into the Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) tool. As more people start taking advantage of new...

Automatic bicycle counter showing how many cyclists have passed today, and this year.

NITC Researchers Will Fuse Multiple Data Sources to Count Bikes

Nov 01, 2018

Principal Investigator: Sirisha Kothuri, Portland State University

Project Overview: Exploring Data Fusion Techniques to Derive Bicycle Volumes on a Network

Learn more about this research by reading about the Pooled Fund research grant that started it, or the Project Overview page.

BIKE/PED COUNT SURVEY: CALL FOR INPUT

Researchers at Portland State University, University of Texas at Arlington, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Toole Design Group are conducting a scan to identify locations where bicycle counts are taking place around North America, and hope to enlist your help! If you collect bike count data (or oversee counts) in your jurisdiction, please consider taking our quick survey to tell us a little bit about your count locations and data.

The survey can be accessed here: tinyurl.com/BikeCounterScan

THE NEW PROJECT...

Translating Bike Traffic Signals: PSU Researchers to Identify Gaps in Driver Comprehension in New NCHRP Study

Nov 01, 2018

Principal Investigator: Chris Monsere, Portland State University

Project Overview: Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals

Learn more about this newly funded research by viewing the Project Overview page. We anticipate findings to be published in 2020.

THE NEW PROJECT

Portland State University is embarking on a collaborative research effort, funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), to help road users better understand bike-specific traffic signals. Over the next year, Dr. Christopher Monsere and Dr. Sirisha Kothuri of PSU's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) will work with researchers from Oregon State University and Toole Design Group to identify gaps in driver comprehension and causes of confusion when both bike signals and motor vehicle signals are present...

Friday Seminar at PSU on Oct 26th: Driver Comprehension of Permissive Right-Turns with a Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) (Chris Monsere and Dave Hurwitz)

Friday Transportation Seminar: Driver Comprehension of Permissive Right-Turns with a Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA)

Sep 20, 2018

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. With over 450 seminars presented and recorded (access the archive of seminars here), we host both visiting and local scholars to share the latest in research, technology, and implementation in transportation.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

Miss the seminar or want a look back?

EVENT OVERVIEW

This research explored driver comprehension and behaviors with respect to right-turn signal displays with a focus on the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) in a driving simulator and a comprehension survey. Flashing yellow arrows are used in place of other turn signals, such as solid green or flashing yellow or red circles, to indicate that drivers may turn after yielding to oncoming traffic. These turns are considered “permissive.” Turns where no conflicting traffic is present, such as those indicated with a green arrow, are “protected” turns. The flashing yellow arrow’s inclusion in...

People talking and looking at materials in a workshop

Celebrating our 10th annual Transportation & Communities with Deep Dive Workshops

Sep 20, 2018

We held our annual flagship professional development event, Transportation & Communities, on September 13 and 14. In honor of the event's ten-year anniversary, we changed up the format: Rather than a typical conference with one-hour sessions and a keynote gathering, we offered a selection of intensive half-day workshops. See photos from the event.

The workshops gave practitioners a chance to take a deep dive into new skills in order to walk away with new tools or frameworks that could be applied to their work. We offered a review of congestion mitigation strategies, universal access and equity in pedestrian planning, and discussion on how smart technology could be implemented in suburban communities. Several workshops were based on findings from new research by the National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC), the six-university consortium which sponsored the event. The NITC...

Webinar: Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts with Alternate Signal Control Strategies

Aug 29, 2018

EDUCATION LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Missed the webinar or want a look back?

OVERVIEW

There is nationwide interest in supporting sustainable and active transportation modes such as bicycling and walking due to the many benefits associated with them, including reduced congestion, lower emissions and improved health. Although the number of bicyclists is increasing, safety remains a top concern. In urban areas, a common crash type involving bicycles at intersections is the “right hook” where a right-turning vehicle collides with a through bicyclist. While geometric treatments and pavement markings have been studied, there is a lack of research on signal timing treatments to address right-hook bicycle-vehicle conflicts.

Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts with Alternate Signal Control Strategies, published in April 2018, is the first study to explore bicycle signal control strategies for addressing bicycle-vehicle conflicts. This study analyzed the operational impacts of traditional concurrent...