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.

EDUCATION LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Missed the seminar or want a look back? 

• Watch the recorded video
• View the presentation slides

OVERVIEW

Private companies and public officials are seeking sustainable and cost effective ways to green supply chains and freight deliveries. There is enthusiasm regarding the potential benefits that innovative technologies such as drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can generate. This presentation discusses key issues and insights that arise from modeling the logistical, and environmental performance of UAVs.

THE SPEAKER

Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University

Miguel is a Professor of civil and environmental engineering, director of the Transportation Technology and People (TTP) research lab, widely cited scholar and member of the Transportation Research Board Network Modeling Committee and Transportation and Logistics Committee. His research investigates things like the Impact of Advanced Technologies on Livability and Multimodal Transportation Performance Measures in Arterial Corridors, Exploiting New Data Sources to Quantify Arterial Congestion and Performance Measures at a Regional Scale, and more.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

Miss the presentation or want a look back?

• Watch the recorded video
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OVERVIEW

Joe Broach, one of the co-authors on FHWA's newest guide on Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity, presents some of the principles and case studies used in this guide. See below for an excerpt from Chapter One:

In 2016 the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a Guidebook for Developing Pedestrian and Bicycle Performance Measures that presents methods for measuring walking and bicycling performance and activities and embedding them into the transportation planning and decisionmaking process (U.S. Department of Transportation 2016). Building on the 2016 guidebook, this resource focuses on pedestrian and bicycle network connectivity and provides information on incorporating connectivity measures into state, metropolitan, and local transportation planning processes.

Connectivity measures can help transportation practitioners identify high priority network gaps, implement cost-effective solutions that address multiple needs, optimize potential co-benefits, and measure the long-term impacts of strategic pedestrian and bicycle investments on goals such as improving safety, system efficiency, network performance, and access to key destinations. Toward that end, this resource should be used in conjunction with self-evaluation and transition plans to evaluate needs for pedestrians with disabilities.

What Is Multimodal Network Connectivity?
Connectivity is one of several concepts commonly used in transportation performance measurement to describe the ease with which people can travel across the transportation system. At its simplest level, network connectivity addresses the question, "Can I get where I want to go easily and safely?" Multimodal network connectivity adds the dimension of travel choices to the picture: "Can I get where I want to go easily and safely in whatever way I choose-for example, walking, bicycling, using transit, or driving?" A connected multimodal network allows people to travel by whatever mode they choose, including people who do not drive or do not have access to a motor vehicle.

Key Components of Pedestrian and Bicycle Network Connectivity
This guidebook outlines five core components of multimodal network connectivity, as listed below, with a focus on pedestrians and bicyclists. While these components are all related, the distinctions between them provide a framework for selecting connectivity measures that address specific questions. The guidebook describes analysis methods and supporting measures associated with each of these components:

• Network completeness - How much of the transportation network is available to bicyclists and pedestrians?
• Network density - How dense are the available links and nodes of the bicycle and pedestrian network?
• Route directness - How far out of their way do users have to travel to find a facility they can or want to use?
• Access to destinations - What destinations can be reached using the transportation network?
• Network quality - How does the network support users of varying levels of experience, ages, abilities, and comfort with bicycling or walking?

THE SPEAKER

Joseph Broach, Portland State University

Joseph Broach is a ​Research Associate with the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) and an Instructor in the School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. H​is work primarily ​focuses ​on transportation data​, behavior,​ and modeling, and ​he ​helped design the ​Portland region's ​next-generation bicycle model in conjunction with Metro.​

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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LOCATION: PSU, Urban Center Building, Room 204 (Distance Learning Center Wing)

SEMINAR VIDEO

SEMINAR SLIDES

Miss the seminar or want a look back at the presentation? View the presentation slides.

As part of California's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the state has passed a law leading to a radical shift in how it analyzes the traffic impacts of new land use developments and transportation projects. SB 743's goal is to "more appropriately balance the needs of congestion management with statewide goals related to infill development, promotion of public health through active transportation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions."

The new measure of transportation impacts will be based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) instead of level of service (LOS). This ground shift has broad implications for lead agencies, planners, MPOs, and state agencies as they seek to measure and mitigate project-generated, cumulative VMT. The anticipated outcomes are a reduction of GHG emissions, further development of multi-modal transportation networks, and a wide diversity of land uses.

Robert Liberty and Lynn Peterson will share what they have learned working with the largest California metropolitan planning organizations to implement this policy change. They will review findings from a case study project; several legal, political, and technical challenges around implementing the new policy; and the possibilities and opportunities ahead for California, with an eye toward its relevance for Oregon and other states.

SPEAKERS
Robert Liberty
Director, Institute for Sustainable Solutions and Urban Sustainability Accelerator at PSU; former Metro Councilor; and former Executive Director, 1000 Friends of Oregon

Lynn Peterson
Transportation consultant; former Secretary of Transportation, Washington State; former Sustainable Communities and Transportation Adviser to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber; and former Clackamas County Commissioner

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WEBINAR VIDEO

WEBINAR SLIDES

WEBINAR SUMMARY

Traditionally the discussion about affordability has focused on housing, but HUD’s Location Affordability Index (LAI), released in 2012, helped to elevate the conversation by expanding the focus to include households’ transportation costs. In the first part of this webinar, Dr. Ganning will provide an overview of the LAI, discuss its technical limitations, and provide recommendations for future research. The second portion of the webinar will present the results of a household survey of housing and transportation costs, conducted in Cleveland, Ohio. The household survey supports and extends the conclusions of the first part of the webinar,  adding information regarding transportation cost estimates, and a perspective on the burden placed on households by unaffordable costs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The LAI appears to overestimate housing cost and cost burden by 10-20%, depending on tenure and urban/rural location. The transportation costs estimated by the LAI cannot be reproduced, and partially depend on data that is either not publicly available or has unacceptably large margins of error. Survey results indicate the LAI over-estimates transportation costs by as much as 100%.
• Regardless, households struggle with unaffordable costs in shrinking cities, often giving up necessities or under-paying or not paying bills to pay for transportation and housing.
• Transit agencies in shrinking cities face a difficult challenge in connecting workers to jobs in a region with a stable or declining population and persistently suburbanizing jobs, pushing the transit service area farther from the core. Some strategies are offered.

SPEAKER
Joanna Ganning

Joanna Ganning is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Economic Development in the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. She holds a PhD in Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She previously served as Assistant Professor and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah. Dr. Ganning’s research focuses on urban and regional economic development. Her interests in transportation center on the role transportation plays in altering regional population settlement patterns, and in impacting household budgetary decisions.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
This 60-minute webinar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We can provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Watch the video

Access the slides here.

Tamika Butler (@TamikaButler), executive director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, will deliver the Ann Niles Active Transportation Lecture this year. She is an advocate and activist who works in support of LGBTQA rights, as well as fighting for social justice and healthy communities. She moved to Los Angeles from Omaha, Nebraska, and became interested in active transportation when she met her wife. It was on bike rides that she fell in love with the city. Uniquely positioned as a queer black woman to understand what marginalized people experience every day, she brought passion, energy and intersectionality to the quest for better bicycle access as the executive director of the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition. In her new role with the L.A. Neighborhood Land Trust, she continues to help address social and racial equity through building parks and gardens in park-poor communities across Greater Los Angeles. Butler was a featured speaker at the 2017 National Walking Summit in St. Paul this September, and gave the keynote at the 2016 NACTO Designing Cities conference in Seattle.

Prior to leading the L.A. Bicycle Coalition, she was the director of social change strategies at Liberty Hill Foundation, and worked at Young Invincibles as the California director. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and her B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Sociology in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. 

READ MORE about Tamika's new role here on StreetsBlog LA "Tamika Butler to Step Down as Head of LACBC; Leaves Behind Strong Legacy of Inclusion in Transportation" 
WATCH MORE of Tamika and view her 2016 NACTO Designing Cities keynote address

INITIATIVE FOR BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN INNOVATION (IBPI) 
Each year, the Ann Niles Active Transportation Lecture Endowment brings a guest speaker to Portland, Oregon. We seek people from all over the world who have made great strides in advocating for health, safety, and bicycle and pedestrian access, and bring them together with the Portland transportation community to share methods and inspiration. The annual forum furthers IBPI's mission to facilitate the exchange of knowledge among scholars, practitioners and community advocates focused on walking and biking. Read more about the Ann Niles Active Transportation Lecture endowment.

Portland State University's Lincoln Recital Hall (Room 75, Ground Fl, 1620 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97201) 

Want to learn more about the work we do and how it intersects with equity in transportation? Read more.

RECAP: WEBINAR VIDEO + SLIDES

Missed the presentation or want a look back at the slides? Check out the video or view the presentation slides here.

This webinar was co-hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) and the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

This past month the U.S. Federal Transit Administration has released a new manual that suggests improvements for pedestrians’ and bicyclists’ access to transit. Specifically, this manual includes information on evaluating, planning, and implementing improvements to pedestrian and bicycle access to transit. It also explains how to integrate bike sharing with transit and make both options more accessible.

This manual (click here to download this manual) was prepared by TREC - the Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University. Join Nathan McNeil and Edwin Adilson Rodriguez in diving deeper into the three case studies covered in this manual - discussing their innovative approaches in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Gain an understanding of key concepts and needs for ensuring that walking and bicycling to transit is an easy, comfortable and safe option for transit riders.
• Develop the knowledge of existing key resources to consult for going into greater depth on specific issues and challenges associated with improving walking and biking to transit.
• Learn key lessons from cities around the country working to improve walking and bicycling connections to transit.

SPEAKER
Nathan McNeil, Portland State University
Nathan McNeil is a research associate at the Center for Urban Studies at Portland State University. He conducts research around impacts of new bicycle infrastructure and programs on travel behavior and attitudes towards cycling, shared-use mobility programs including carsharing and bike-share, and the connection between land-use and transportation. Nathan received a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University, and studied history at Columbia University as an undergraduate. Prior to PSU, McNeil worked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City as a performance auditor where he evaluated capital programs and contractors.

Edwin Adilson Rodriguez, Federal Transit Administration
Edwin Adilson Rodriguez is the Acting Director for the Office of Research Management, Innovation and Outreach (TRI-30). TRI-30 is the office responsible to enhance the effectiveness of FTA’s research program by driving research strategic planning; leading the program planning process for the selection of research and training, technical assistance, standards, human resources, training projects; overseeing program implementation and compliance activities to enhance project operational excellence; developing and applying research performance metrics and program evaluation efforts; managing agency research outreach efforts; and leading workforce assistance and training activities for the transit industry.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
This 60-minute webinar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide this electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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This event is by invitation only. If you have any questions please contact us at asktrec@pdx.edu

Portland State University, in concert with the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RDPO) and City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM), is offering a two-day training course on the development of a Transportation Recovery Plan for the Portland Metro region. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funded a research grant to develop a recovery plan for the City of Portland that includes transit and travel demand management (TDM) strategies, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies, and use of social media as an integral part of a recovery plan. The project includes the development of a two-day training program to be pilot tested in Portland and offered to six other metropolitan regions nationwide.

COURSE GOAL

The goal of this training is to provide participants with the tools, knowledge, skills and resources to develop an emergency transportation recovery plan and to recognize the specific needs, resources and relationships with emergency responders within Portland Metro region. We also hope that bringing together transportation planners and engineers with emergency management professionals, the region can better coordinate preparedness and recovery planning efforts.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The primary audience for the training is transit and transportation planners from city, county, MPOs and institutions that have responsibilities for creating, reviewing, funding, implementing, and/or executing transportation recovery and emergency operations plans. This includes personnel with the direct responsibility for emergency management as well as other personnel including representatives from transit agencies, city and state departments of transportation, major employers, paratransit providers, developers and existing TDM entities.

KEY TOPICS

• Defining all Hazards Recovery Planning
• State of the Practice in Portland
• Lessons learned from past events
• Identifying processes for defining and identifying a regions’ vulnerable transportation assets
• Risk Assessment
• Tools and methods to prioritize investments to be made during recovery phase and beyond
• Roles and responsibilities in recovery planning and implementation
• Recommended strategies for multi-modal recovery plans including operations, communications, transit, TDM, ITS and leveraging use of social media
• Legal, financial and contracting Issues
• Development of next steps for developing, refining, training, and testing a recovery plan

COURSE METHODOLOGIES

Highly interactive presentations and class exercises coupled with numerous individual and small-group practice activities will help ensure that participants develop a high level of mastery in the class, and will facilitate the transfer of the relevant skills and knowledge.

QUESTIONS?

Contact us at asktrec@pdx.edu

SEMINAR VIDEO

PRESENTATION SLIDES

Emerging probe data sources from smartphones on on-board devices are able to measure behavior of cyclists with very high resolution. From this, for the first time, we are able to measure relatively precise behavior that allows new insights into exposure, route choice, safety behavior, or technology choice. Probe data, merged with other data sources, can begin to develop a more complete picture of cyclists on-road behavior.

This presentation will offer examples of analyses done to investigate cyclists behavior using app-based and on-board GPS data in the context of individual cyclists behavior (i.e., app users) and behavior of bikeshare users (i.e., on-board GPS fleet tracking devices). The applications will cover route choice, travel patterns, surrogate safety behaviors like wrong-way riding, and will investigate differences between conventional- and electric-bike users.

SPEAKER
Chris Cherry of the University of Tennessee

Dr. Chris Cherry is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee. His research interests include bicycle and pedestrian safety and system design, the role of e-bikes on the transportation system, multimodal transportation planning and economics, travel behavior and demand, sustainable transportation and transit security. Dr. Cherry received is BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Arizona and received his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. His research focuses on sustainable transportation, including aspects of transportation safety, economics and environment. About half of his research work is focused rapid motorization of Asia, with research projects in China. His domestic research agenda includes evaluating safety and system performance non-motorized and transit systems, as well as commercial vehicles. He also focuses on market penetration and impacts of alternative transportation technologies and fuels. He leads the Light Electric Vehicle Education and Research (LEVER) Initiative, a consortium of universities and industry to explore the role of emerging and potentially disruptive classes of electric vehicles on transportation, sustainability, and health.

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Certificate of attendance for those who track professional development hours.

SEMINAR VIDEO

HUAJIE YANG 

See presentation slides

 Huajie Yang is a PhD student in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning at Portland State University. His research interests include integrated transportation and land use modeling, and the impact of transit on traffic congestion. Now he is working on a project that investigates approaches incorporating emerging travel modes in the Regional Planning Model (RSPM) tool with Dr. Liming Wang.

Development of a Multi-modal Travel Demand Module for the Regional Strategic Planning Model
Integrated land use and transportation models have evolved along a spectrum with simplistic sketch planning models on one end and sophisticated microsimulation models on the other. While each type of these models has its niche, they are largely unable to balance the flexibility and realism of microsimulation and the speed and interactiveness of simple models. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) aims to fill this gap by taking a microsimulation approach but making other simplifications, to model first-order long-term outcomes of land use and transportation quickly. It takes into consideration the underlying uncertainties of long-term modeling by accepting a broad range of policy inputs and technology assumptions while allowing rapid simulations of hundreds of scenarios. The RSPM is one of a few operational modeling packages (along with EERPAT and RPAT) that have evolved from GreenSTEP, a microsimulation modeling package for state-level evaluation of strategies for reducing transportation energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Several ongoing projects are aiming to develop a common software framework for the family of strategic modeling tools and improve the policy sensitivity of multi-modal travel. In this study, we introduce the RSPM framework, and then primarily focus on the new development of a multi-modal travel demand module that links various policy inputs to households’ multi-modal travel and further to aggregate transportation outcomes (e.g. GHG emissions, traffic fatalities). We discuss our choice of model structures and specifications and then estimate the models utilizing a unique US nationwide dataset combining the 2009 US National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), EPA’s Smart Location Database, and the National Transit Database. This comprehensive dataset provides a rich set of variables capturing household social-demographics, multi-modal travel, built environment, and transportation supply. We conclude the paper with the results of validation and sensitivity tests, and a discussion of future work. 
ALVARO CAVIEDES

See presentation slides

Exploring the Determinants of Vulnerable Road Users’ Crash Severity in State Roads
Pedestrians and bicyclists are the most vulnerable road users and suffer the most severe consequences when crashes take place. An extensive literature is available for crash severity in terms of driver safety, but fewer studies have explored non-motorized users’ crash severity. Furthermore, most research efforts have examined pedestrian and bicyclist crash severity in urban areas. This study focuses on state roads (mostly outside major urban areas) and aims to identify contributing risk factors of fatal and severe crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists in state roads. The results seem to suggest that besides improvements in roadway characteristics, additional countermeasures to reduce crash severity for vulnerable users should include educational campaigns, more strict control of alcohol intoxicated drivers, and protection strategies of senior pedestrians.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We can provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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SEMINAR VIDEO

PRESENTATION SLIDES

Miss the seminar or want a look back at the presentation? View the slides here.

As urban areas across the country are investing in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure to promote environmentally sustainable transportation and to develop livable communities, many have pointed to improvements in environmental quality, economic development and public health as potential positive outcomes. While these outcomes of active transportation infrastructure are relatively well documented, it is also known that both transportation and environmental amenities are typically unevenly distributed in the urban context. Studies show that those who are the most socioeconomically disadvantaged (i.e. low income, people of color, etc.) are also those who disproportionately experience transportation disadvantages.

This study contributes to the existing literature by specifically linking bicycle accessibility to spatial equity analysis, using both an existing 2016 Baseline Scenario and a 2035 City Greenways Scenario in Portland, Oregon to illustrate. Two distinct types of bicycle accessibility measures are calculated: a distance-based measure (based on proximity to bicycle facilities) and a gravity-based opportunities measure (based on accessible opportunities and destinations). Improvements in bicycle accessibility are then spatially analyzed within communities identified as historically marginalized, across quintiles of identified neighborhoods and between identified communities and other areas.

Our findings suggest that although bicycle infrastructure investments generally provide greater proximity for all residents, accessibility improvements are not quite as apparent when considering access to opportunities and destinations using the second bicycle accessibility measure. The results of the various spatial equity analyses underscore the importance of integrating land use factors into transportation accessibility measures, particularly in the context of equitable access to opportunities for everyone.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We can provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

SPEAKER

Dr. Jenny Liu is an assisant professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University. She is an environmental and resource economist with a focus in transportation economics. Her research interests include the economics of alternative energy sources, links between transportation choices and environmental issues, the effects of physical infrastructure networks and social networks on the adoption of transportation technologies, and technology adoption and its effects on climate change, particularly within the urban and development contexts.

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