Would monetary incentives encourage more people to buy e-bikes? 

Portland State University (PSU) researchers are examining how purchase incentive programs can expand the current e-bike market, and the latest product to come out of this research is a white paper released earlier this month: “Using E-Bike Purchase Incentive Programs to Expand the Market – North American Trends and Recommended Practices (PDF)”

The paper offers methods of identifying the most effective program structure for the incentive provider's priorities, and helpful information on how to administer and track the program. 

A great number of cities in the United States have cycling goals, and a great way to address those is by promoting e-bikes, because they provide for a much wider range of users than a traditional bike does," said Cameron Bennett, who is a master student in transportation engineering at PSU.

Bennett co-authored the paper with John MacArthur of PSU; Christopher Cherry of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and Luke Jones of Valdosta State University. The authors reviewed impacts and statistics from around 75 current, past, and proposed e-bike incentive programs in North America, and also interviewed industry leaders, academics and incentive program managers to identify key considerations. Streetsblog USA interviewed MacArthur on what the team found and the implications for program administrators.

Funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and PeopleForBikes, the multi-part research project has three stages:

1. Tracking current and proposed e-bike incentive programs in North America (for more on that, see our Jan 2022 story or see the live online tracker spreadsheet);
2. Evaluating practices, trends and case studies in those programs (download the white paper or watch the May 2022 webinar);
3. Learning more about potential e-bike buyers and how incentive programs could influence their decision-making.

Later this year the team will publish the results of a national stated preference survey (take the survey here), aimed at learning the potential effects of different rebate methods, cash amounts, demographics and other factors. This will yield even more insight into what affects people's decision-making, and which types of incentive programs may hit the sweet spot.

John MacArthur has a long track record in e-bike research, and he and Christopher Cherry collaborate on research for the Light Electric Vehicle Education and Research (LEVER) Institute.

Photo by Dongho Chang

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Better Block PSU is a partnership program between the volunteer-led group Better Block PDX and Portland State University - encouraging everyone to imagine what spaces could be when they are designed for people. Once a year, community members submit their project ideas to the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at PSU. Selected projects are then integrated into a pathway of PSU planning and engineering classes, through which students gain hands-on experiential learning by developing plans, designs, and engineering solutions. 

Students in PSU's Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning course, taught by Drusilla van Hengel, are currently working on the newest slate of projects. The course seeks to provide each project partner with an evaluation of each site's level of pedestrian and bicycle activity and existing conditions, a community engagement plan, and performance metric recommendations for uses during the demonstration to measure the project's success. Those five community-led projects include:

• Argay Terrace Transformation: This project seeks to transform the intersection of NE 131st and NE Prescott Dr from a dangerous corner into a welcoming neighborhood space, in a community which is 47 percent Black, Indigenous and people of color.
• Car Free Zones in Downtown Portland: In 1972, Portland City Planners and the City Council approved a car-free plan for the downtown. Parts of it were implemented in the Waterfront Trail and Halprin Open Space Sequence, and this project seeks to update and operationalize the rest of the Car-Free Downtown Plan (see page 33 of the 1972 Portland Downtown Plan).
• Keaton Otis Memorial: This project seeks to create a safe space for community members to gather at a memorial, with a street design that reduces or eliminates car traffic at the gathering space.
• Sabin Outdoor Community Space: This project would convert a dead-end cul de sac near a future affordable housing development into a pleasant, functional outdoor space that can be easily navigated by foot, bike or wheelchair.
• Walkable Rosewood: This project would improve the pedestrian experience along several streets in the Rosewood neighborhood with temporary or permanent walkways, intersection treatments, and art installations.

Below we share summaries from the proposals of the chosen projects. These are initial ideas and aspirations, and what is pursued by the project partners and the PSU student teams will evolve and change over time, depending upon the goals and constraints of the class working closely with community partners. Later this year we’ll share an update on the progress and accomplishments of each project team. Want to be notified when applications open in Spring 2023? Add your email address here, and learn more about the Better Block PSU program here.

Argay Terrace Transformation

Led by the Argay Terrace Neighborhood Association, this project seeks to transform the intersection of NE 131st and NE Prescott Dr from a dangerous corner into a welcoming neighborhood space, in an area of the neighborhood that has the most racially diverse residents.

The Opportunity

The intersection is a mix of commercial and residential uses, with a large multifamily housing development and a thriving indoor soccer league nearby. Kids walking to Shaver Elementary School must cross the street here, amid an environment that has been the site for illegal dumping of trash and other illegal activity. The community is 49% people of color, and many residents are below the median household income for Portland. This project is an opportunity to improve the intersection and make it into a safer, more welcoming space for residents.

How to Move Forward

The project partners have several ideas on how to potentially improve the area, including: 

• An improvised bike lane to help kids feel safer riding bikes or scooters to school;
• Planters and other street furniture to help the area look and feel cared for;
• A street painting to illustrate the transition between commercial and residential zones;
• Other treatments that make it feel safer to walk and roll in the area.

What Does Success Look Like?

"We are a community that loves to walk to our gorgeous parks (Luuwit View and Argay). We are a neighborhood where people walk their dogs and say 'hi.'  We are a neighborhood where kids ride their bikes despite no bike infrastructure. We have farm fields that produce fresh flowers and vegetables as well as a thriving community garden in Luuwit View Park. That is our community. Loved by those who live here and well used," shared the Parks Chair for the Argay Terrace Neighborhood Association. A successful project would result in a transformation: from a dangerous corner to an area that is cared for by the community; a space where people are welcomed into the neighborhood. Success would be measured by the quality of interaction in the project with Black, Indigenous and People of Color; by an increase in resources to the area of the neighborhood that is most diverse; and finally by the sight of more people walking and riding to school and Luuwit View park from NE Prescott Dr.

Car Free Zones in Downtown Portland

Led by Urban Design & Planning Consultant Cathy Tuttle, this project will work to update and operationalize the 1972 Car-Free Downtown Portland Plan. 

The Opportunity

Downtown Portland is very car-focused, as Cathy Tuttle explained in a recent Friday Transportation Seminar at Portland State. The area has a good transit grid with light rail, buses and streetcar transit, and fairly short blocks that already have good street lighting and pavement. With the implementation of car-free zones, there is the potential to create vibrant and welcoming thoroughfares for pedestrians and bicyclists, boosting commercial activity and contributing to a healthier city through lowered emissions and increased opportunities for physical activity. Portland's Downtown Car-Free Plan (PDF) was approved by planners and the City Council in 1972. Parts of the plan have been implemented in the Waterfront Trail and Halprin Open Space Sequence. This project seeks to move forward with realizing more of the original vision for Portland's car-free downtown. 

How to Move Forward

By moving this project through the Better Block PSU program, the conversation about Portland's car-free downtown can be pushed forward on multiple fronts. The PSU students could potentially contribute by:

• Defining the geographic scope of the car-free zone;
• Creating a timeline and prioritizing which streets to work on first;
• Thinking ahead about how to facilitate cargo bike and other low-carbon freight deliveries;
• Planning for utility access and emergency vehicle access;
• Identifying pricing strategies to collect revenue from limited car entry and parking;
• Securing the relevant environmental permits;
• Determining what metrics would most accurately evaluate success.

What Does Success Look Like?

A successful project would result in livable, equitable streets for people of all ages and abilities in downtown Portland. Success could be measured and quantified in terms of improving air quality, reducing noise, lowering overall CO2 emissions and increasing revenue for local businesses. Engaging with vulnerable community members would also be an essential component of a successful project. "Many people who live and work in Portland do not drive. In fact, 40% of people do not drive citywide because cars are not affordable, because of age or disability, or because of choice. Downtown Portland has a very high concentration of very low income, BIPOC, and other-abled people who need to be part of this planning process," project lead Cathy Tuttle said.

Keaton Otis Memorial

Led by Joshua Baker of Justice for Keaton Otis, this project seeks to create a safe space for community members to gather at a memorial, with a street design that reduces or eliminates car traffic at the gathering space.

The Opportunity

On May 12, 2010, 25-year-old Keaton Otis's life was cut short by Portland Police. At the site where it happened, on Northeast 6th Avenue between Clackamas and Halsey, loved ones and activists of Keaton Otis have met on the street for the past 10+ years for a monthly vigil. Plans are underway to create a permanent memorial. The southern part of the block would be connected to Portland's planned "Green Loop."

How to Move Forward

Project leaders have organized the design vision into a few phases and are seeking funding for moving forward all three phases. All currently planned memorial components either involve work on the sidewalk or a special kintsugi-style street artwork. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. One key component that has not yet been addressed, and where Better Block PSU may be able to help, is: What can be done to reduce (or completely eliminate) vehicle traffic along the block, and turn it into a safe space for community members to gather?

What Does Success Look Like?

"This project is based on over a decade of deep community engagement and three years of collective visioning efforts to meaningfully memorialize the life of Keaton Otis. We see it as a model of what community-driven transformative justice could look like," project lead Joshua Baker said. Justice for Keaton Otis is the name of the organization leading the effort. Their hope is that Keaton’s loved ones, and all those fighting for justice, feel a sense of togetherness in this place. Reducing the noise and danger of car traffic at the site would contribute meaningfully to the feeling of safety and acknowledgement.

Sabin Outdoor Community Space

Led by Elizabeth A. Caston, a NE resident and consultant for the Sabin CDC nonprofit, this project would convert a dead-end cul de sac near a future affordable housing development into a pleasant, functional outdoor space that can be easily navigated by foot, bike or wheelchair.

The Opportunity

In the 1970s, the city blocked off the end of NE 14th place to Killingsworth, which resulted in a cul de sac that dead-ends. The Sabin Community Development Corporation is currently building a new 29-unit low income affordable housing complex that will include an indoor community arts and culture center on the ground floor directly adjacent to this cul-de-sac. At this location there is no crosswalk and there are many obstructions on the sidewalk and sidewalk ramps, impeding access and making it a difficult area to navigate by foot, bike or wheelchair.

How to Move Forward

This outdoor site area has been discussed as a potential community gathering and event space. Improving the space could offer potential benefits to the incoming low-income residents as well as the larger community. Sabin has already done a few rounds of resident outreach and engagement on what they would like to see in a Resident and Community Services program, and will be engaging many more times to help prioritize, vision, and plan for more specifics. Better Block PSU could help by:

• Planning for better bike and pedestrian access to and from nearby Alberta and Ainsworth;
• Engaging further with community members to ensure their voices are heard;
• Designing strategies to turn the cul de sac into a parklet or other outdoor community space.

What Does Success Look Like?

The end result would be a new space for community members to gather that is safe, comfortable, and easy to access, as well as providing safe connections to the rest of the neighborhood. "Having access to pleasant, functional outdoor public space would be the catalyst for this amazing opportunity in community empowerment and engagement. Using outdoor space to create intergenerational connections, and strengthen community socialization between families with kids/youth, and with seniors, and the disabled who are often isolated and lonely. We want to bring people together for community building," project lead Elizabeth Caston said.

Walkable Rosewood

Led by Oregon Walks, this project would improve the pedestrian experience along several streets in the Rosewood neighborhood with temporary or permanent walkways, intersection treatments, and art installations.

The Opportunity

There are no sidewalks along many streets throughout East Portland's Rosewood neighborhood. The lack of sidewalk availability, coupled with the large street blocks and distantly spaced crossings, makes it unsafe and uncomfortable for people to walk in many spaces in the neighborhood. There have been two recent plans/projects already developed for the Rosewood neighborhood, each of which includes streetscape improvement ideas:

• Roses From Concrete, a 2020 Masters of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) workshop project, created a walkability plan for the neighborhood. Shreya Jain, the lead on this project, was a member of the graduate student team that worked on this plan.
• The Rosewood Conceptual Neighborhood Master Plan was developed in 2021 through a partnership with the Rosewood Initiative and SERA Architects. 

How to Move Forward

The desired outcome is a project shaped by Rosewood community members that would make it safer and more enjoyable to walk in the area. Oregon Walks hopes to partner with local transportation advocacy organizations to develop a community engagement strategy focusing on Rosewood’s residents. Better Block PSU could help by prioritizing which intersections and streets could be effectively improved with temporary or permanent walkways, intersection treatments, and art installations.  

What Does Success Look Like?

"Success could be measured by seeing community members engaged in the process and helping shape the overall design. It could also be measured by seeing youth be involved in the decision-making process," project lead Shreya Jain said. If street improvements end up being implemented, a primary indicator that the project succeeded would be people reporting that they walk more, or that they feel safer or more comfortable walking in the Rosewood neighborhood.

Want to be notified when applications open in Spring 2023? Add your email address here, and learn more about the Better Block PSU program here.

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.

An Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) report, Resilient and Rapid Repair Measures for Seismically Vulnerable Bridges Following Major Earthquakes, introduces a rapid repair method for bridges in the event of a major earthquake.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake threatens bridges across the Pacific Northwest. Damage is expected to be geographically spread throughout the region and will have a nearly simultaneous impact on transportation through several important corridors. While bridge repair and replacement will ultimately be needed, an immediate priority will be resuming mobility. With that in mind, the project team developed a method for repairs to be implemented quickly.

The quick repair involves encasing a damaged bridge column in a steel jacket, which is then anchored to the foundation through replaceable ductile fuse hold-downs. In full-scale cyclic tests, the team applied this repair method to a damanged column and then subjected it to the cyclic loading it would encounter during a Cascadia Subduction Zone event. The experiments validated the design goal, resulting in restored or controlled strength while also exhibiting no additional damage.

The proof-of-concept experiments have shown the potential of this methodology to rapidly repair earthquake-damaged columns with a relatively generic approach.

Led by Peter Dusicka of Portland State University, the research team included AKM Golam Murtuz, Ilya Palnikov and Gregory Norton. Murtuz and Norton are currently graduate research assistants, Palnikov is a structural research engineer, and Dusicka is a professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering. All four team members work in the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science at Portland State. Dusicka has worked on several other earthquake structural engineering projects, with a focus on infrastructure resilience.

Photo by Cait McCusker

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

How could a free transportation class for people living in the Salt Lake City region strengthen community conversations and advocacy around local priorities in transportation policy? Researchers at Portland State University (PSU) and University of Utah (UU) explored that question by bringing a well-known learning model from Portland, Oregon to SLC.

For over 25 years, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has partnered with PSU to offer the Portland Traffic and Transportation Course – a free 10-week course designed to provide local community members the skills and knowledge to participate in transportation decisions affecting their neighborhoods. This model has proven to be a success story in public agency-university partnership in community education. Building upon a 2015 project that documented the Portland course and developed a curriculum handbook, the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) has provided more funding for a pilot community transportation class–the Wasatch Transportation Academy– in Salt Lake, City Utah. Their first class was held on January 24, 2022 (view class recordings here) and ran through March 28th.

In advance of the research report and updated curriculum handbook*, we interviewed the researchers behind the project, Nathan McNeil of PSU and Keith Bartholomew of UU, to learn more about how this learning model can be adapted to other cities and regions across the country.

*Want to be notified when resources are released for this project? Add your email address here.

Can you share more about the history of this transportation class in Portland and the goals?

NATHAN McNEIL: The City and Portland State have been offering this free “Transportation Academy” for over twenty-five years. There have been over 1,200 alumni. 1,200 community members in Portland who are now more knowledgeable and engaged, with each other and their neighbors, in local transportation projects and improvements. That’s huge.

KEITH BARTHOLOMEW: And who are those people? Leading up to the class we interviewed stakeholders all over the Salt Lake City region, and one of recurring themes is that the vision of this class should prioritize empowering people. Providing the skills, the tools, and the opportunity for confidence for neighbors to share their understanding of transportation planning and how to influence outcomes. In a sense, it's like we are trying to train a bunch of community activists in engaging with their fellow neighbors in vocalizing and realizing their transportation needs.

NATHAN: Yes, and also how to interact with City Council members and sway decision makers. Part of that is coordinating with your neighbors to more effectively communicate those technical needs. How can you walk away from this class as a translator for your neighbors and for other people that maybe haven't sat through those lectures?

KEITH: One of the explicit outcomes of the class is to be able to convince someone. Not just how does transportation planning and engineering projects work, but how to get other people to care about your issue? How can you cultivate a commitment to seek a solution? The most important takeaway from this class is not so much a body of knowledge, but a way of thinking. How can we empower these community members to find the information they need and advocate for the change they want to see?

Why do you think it is so important for regions and universities to partner on hosting community transportation academies for the public?

KEITH: In preparing for the launch of this class, one of our interviewees emphasized that we’re in a time of significant change right now. Electric vehicles, AV, e-scooters, microtransit…these technology changes are all the more exacerbated by the pandemic and climate change. It’s a critical time to be engaging people on ways those changes could improve their community and their access to opportunities. With rapid increases in population growth and cost of living, this community learning model can serve as a tool to respond to those transportation challenges and perhaps provide part of the solution. It’s about community building. The technical stuff on transportation you can read online, watch webinars, etc. But in a class setting you get a different kind of learning: strategizing with other people who share your interests. You can share lessons learned with each other, and experience the energy of others who are similarly motivated to make their communities better. That’s not something you can achieve through a Google search.

NATHAN: There is huge value in building the networks of people that are interested in these topics in your local area, and not just between the people learning in the class. Meeting the people that are making the decisions is powerful. The class can create new relationships and offer that human connection behind transportation infrastructure and policies. The other class members can serve as a sounding board, and the class can be a place for them to test out their ideas around issues and how to engage others.

KEITH: And to see that there are ways to change City Hall, and ways to change how things are done in your neighborhood.

NATHAN: In the end we hope people walk away with the knowledge that technical aspects of transportation are accessible to them, and that behind it all are people who are doing the planning. Decisions do happen on a person to person to person level, for better or worse. And it’s really hard to engage and be a part of the conversation only online.

What unique strengths do Portland State and University of Utah researchers bring to this project?

NATHAN: In 2015 I led a project evaluating the transportation academy class in Portland, and part of that project was developing a curriculum outline and handbook. And so I’m very familiar with this model of learning. There are some variations out there, but the Portland class is unique. Last year NITC offered this nifty new grant geared towards technology transfer, essentially - funding to implement the research. I got lucky when I found out Keith, who is familiar with the Portland class, had already been thinking about how he could bring this model to the Salt Lake City region! Keith has been building relationships with transportation decision-makers and planners in that area for over 23 years, and could help bring this class to reality. He was willing to step in, share those relationships and serve as lead instructor for this first class. The University of Utah was a great partner in this project, and it couldn’t have worked out better.

KEITH: Well right back at you Portland! This kind of project really gets to the roots of NITC. Back when we were first trying to establish a USDOT University Transportation Center here and considering who would be a good partner - Portland and PSU were an obvious choice. Portland and Salt Lake City are more similar than we are different. People love to say there couldn’t be two regions more demographically and politically diametrically opposed. But both public universities have a history of activism and play leading roles in promoting community engagement. For a community class like this to succeed, the educational institute needs to be ingrained in the urban fabric.

[[{"fid":"5879","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default"}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]

How do you see this class differing from Portland? What is unique about the Wasatch County region in Utah?

NATHAN: I’m sure Keith will have a totally different take on this question, but a major difference is that we envisioned this class to be regional. Bringing in people that don’t necessarily live in Salt Lake City, but in the greater Wasatch Front –both in terms of content and who is present. It’s also important to acknowledge that the Portland class has been going for nearly 30 years and has a long waiting list of people hoping to get in. People get a lot of value from it and recommend it to peers, and neighborhood associations regularly send people to it. Something the Portland class doesn’t have to contend with is marketing, but we started from scratch in Salt Lake and had great support from local and regional transportation agencies in promoting the class. We seemed to have tapped into a bit of latent demand for this type of offering - we ended up with over 100 people expressing interest in the class, 50 applications, and an average attendance of about 30 students per class.

KEITH: There is a pretty strong current of activism in our region already. We wanted to acknowledge and leverage it with this version of the class in the Wasatch Front. Another difference is that this time it’s the university that is initiating the program. University of Utah has a long history of education in public administration, including a historic program started in the 1970’s for planning commissioners across the state to prepare citizens for the challenges of their volunteer jobs. Although the program is no longer active at UU, we still have that curriculum and experience to apply to this class.

Now that the first class has been piloted, what’s next for this project?

NATHAN: Outside of the class itself, there are a few products we’re working on to share our takeaways from the experience of launching this community learning model in the Wasatch Front. We’ll be sharing a case study of the first year, and developing a five year plan of how this particular class could evolve over time. We’ll also be updating the original Community Transportation Academy Curriculum Handbook I wrote back in 2015. It will address the differences of this class in a city versus one with a regional approach, as well as just the experience of having implemented one outside of Portland. What can be generalized to any location versus what might be specific to a city or region? The curriculum will also be updated to share how to address these transportation topics with a focus on equity.

The forthcoming report from “Implementing a Community Transportation Academy” and other products from this research project will be released this summer. If you want to be notified when resources are released for this project, add your email address here.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Implementing a Community Transportation Academy

Nathan McNeil

nmcneil@pdx.edu | Twitter

Nathan McNeil is a Research Associate at Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC). He conducts research on travel behavior, traffic safety, and programs to promote multimodal and equitable 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, Nathan worked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City as a performance auditor where he evaluated capital programs and contractors.

Keith Bartholomew, JD
bartholomew@arch.utah.edu | Website

Keith Bartholomew is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning and a Professor of City & Metropolitan Planning. Before coming to Utah, Professor Bartholomew served as a staff attorney for 1000 Friends of Oregon and was the director of “Making the Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality Connection” (LUTRAQ). Professor Bartholomew teaches and conducts research on integrated land use-transportation scenario analysis, pedestrian-oriented design, and land use law.

This research was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, with additional support from Salt Lake City Transportation Division; Wasatch Front Regional Council; Utah Department of Transportation; Utah Transit Authority; University of Utah; and Salt Lake County, Regional Planning and Transportation.

RELATED RESEARCH

To learn more about this and other NITC research, sign up for our monthly research newsletter.

• Transportation Leadership Education
• Collaborative Regional Planning: Tools and Techniques for Teaching Collaborative Regional Planning to Enhance Livability and Sustainable Transportation
• Multimodal Transportation Planning Applications Curriculum for Urban Planning Programs

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

David Yang, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University, is the principal investigator on two newly-awarded research projects for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in support of its structural engineering programs.

"As the transportation infrastructure continues to age in an ever more uncertain future, it is essential to assess and manage infrastructure risk during the evaluation, maintenance, and rehabilitation processes. These two projects are dedicated to the development of such risk-informed approaches for existing culverts, bridges, and tunnels," Yang said.

In the first project, Framework and Methodology for Risk-Based Bridge and Tunnel Asset Management, an infrastructure team led by Yang with co-PIs Diane Moug, Arash Khosravifar, and Avinash Unnikrishnan will use a three-year grant from the Federal Highway Administration to develop a framework and a methodology for asset management of bridges and tunnels.

Bridges and tunnels need to address the daily transportation needs of the traveling public and provide capacity and emergency service before/during/after extreme events. States may achieve the best possible transportation network performance through a properly planned asset management strategy. This project aims to develop a comprehensive and risk-based methodology that can consider all credible risks and their variations when maintenance and retrofitting actions are selected and implemented. This project will examine both regular operation, such as daily traffic fluctuation or planned maintenance/construction, and extreme events that have recurring intervals significantly greater than bridge design life span.

In the second project, Risk-Based Methodology for Structural Evaluation of Bridge-Sized Culverts, Yang and co-PIs Kevin White of E.L. Robinson Engineering of Ohio and Timothy Wood of The Citadel Military College of South Carolina will use another three-year FHWA grant to evaluate the structural integrity and assess risks for long-span culverts.

Many long-span culverts are subject to loads from heavy trucks, and thus need to be evaluated for their load carrying capacities to estimate safety margins. However, the current manual on bridge evaluation provides limited guidance for bridge-sized culverts due to their distinct structural configurations and different consequences of culvert overload. The project will develop a risk-based approach that can calibrate the varying target reliability levels of culverts and the associated load and resistance factors used for structural evaluation. By investigating all critical risk factors relevant to culvert safety under vehicle load, this research will formulate a risk-based methodology for evaluating bridge-sized culverts.

These two projects will support respectively the seismic and multi-hazard resilience program and the load rating program of FHWA, addressing its strategic goals and objectives in safety, infrastructure, innovation, and accountability.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Photo by Glen Richard/iStock

Ten Portland State University students have been awarded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) scholarships for the 2021/22 academic year. We're very proud to acknowledge their hard work and dedication. The NITC Scholarship program recognizes outstanding students working on transportation projects. Financial support for students helps to develop the workforce by directing talented individuals toward research and practice, raising the number and caliber of graduates in transportation. 

Meet the NITC Scholars of PSU:

Cameron Bennett, Master in Civil & Environmental Engineering

Cameron Bennett is a first-year masters student in transportation engineering. He was the recipient of a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation at the 2022 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and is also the recipient of a 2021 Walter H. Kramer Scholarship. Cameron currently serves as president of the PSU student group ITE-STEP (Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning). His work as a graduate research assistant focuses on promoting and facilitating the use of active transportation as a tool for equity, livability, and economic development. Cameron is passionate about bicycle and pedestrian design, planning, and policy in urban environments.

Connect with Cameron on LinkedIn and see a poster on How E-Bike Incentives are Used to Expand the Market here.

Darshan Chauhan, Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering

Darshan Chauhan is a Ph.D. Candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Graduate Research Assistant at PSU. His doctoral work with Dr. Avinash Unnikrishnan is in the area of freight logistics systems utilizing emerging transportation technologies like UAV/drones and electric freight vehicles. Specifically, his work focuses on planning and real-time resource allocation in such systems using methods like robust optimization and reinforcement learning. He is fascinated by how the field of transportation is an amalgam of various disciplines and is interested in contributing to an area where optimization, data analytics, and civil engineering intersect. He is a student member of INFORMS, ASCE, and ITE. He has served as the Treasurer of STEP, PSU’s ITE student chapter. Recently, he presented work on drone facility locations for emergency medical scenarios in a January 2022 Friday Transportation Seminar.

Connect with Darshan on LinkedIn and see the two posters he presented at TRB 2022: 

• Maximum Profit Facility Location and Dynamic Resource Allocation for Instant Delivery Logistics
• Robust Multi Period Maximum Coverage Facility Location Problem Considering Coverage Reliability 

Christian Galiza, B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Christian Galiza is a senior in civil engineering. He is the Vice President of Communications for STEP. He enjoys transportation because it's fascinating to think about the relationship between building sustainable infrastructure and transportation planning and its impact on how people move every day.

Connect with Christian on LinkedIn and see a collage showcasing the number of communications materials created during his involvement with ITE-STEP.

Cole Grisham, Ph.D. in Public Affairs

Cole Grisham is a Ph.D. candidate in the Hatfield School of Government and a Transportation Systems Planner with FHWA Western Federal Lands. His work focuses on long range transportation planning, particularly in the areas of regional and intergovernmental policy in the American Northwest. Cole is a certified planner through the American Planning Association and holds a B.A. in Political Science and M.U.P. in Regional Planning from the University of Michigan. His doctoral work focuses on regional planning and policy in Tribal communities. He presented research related to this topic in an October 2021 Friday Transportation Seminar: Transportation Planning in Tribal Communities.

Connect with Cole on LinkedIn and see his paper on Regional Transportation Policy in Alaskan Native Villages here.

Asif Haque, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Asif Haque is a second-year graduate student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program and is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Transportation. He is a Graduate Research Assistant with PSU, through which he serves the Portland Bureau of Transportation as a Community Service Aide. Asif previously served the Oregon Department of Energy as a Data Visualization Intern and the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability as a Community Service Aide. He is the current Vice President of Finance & Conferences for STEP. In relation to his transportation interests, Asif serves as an Assistant Project Manager for the Portland-based nonprofit Outgrowing Hunger. He earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a B.S. in Journalism from The University of Kansas. He served as an Undergraduate Research Fellow for The University of Kansas Institute for Policy and Social Research Center for Environmental Policy, focusing on county-level community-driven food security. Asif is broadly interested in how transportation systems and services, particularly public and active transportation, can better facilitate and accommodate people’s access to goods, services, employment, and resources.

Connect with Asif on LinkedIn and see his white paper on the Benefits of Connected Active and Public Transportation Systems here.

Nick Meusch, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Nick Meusch is a second-year student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program and third-year student in the Graduate Certificate in Transportation program at PSU. Nick is interested in vehicle electrification and the infrastructure needs required for implementation, supporting equitable shared micromobility, and planning and designing active transportation facilities. Nick was recently celebrated along with the other 2021 scholars during the American Public Transportation Association's TRANSform Conference as a 2021 American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF) scholarship recipient. Nick currently works as a proposal manager and planner for Elcon Associates, a minority-owned, electrical and systems engineering firm that performs consulting services for transit agencies operating rail transit systems and infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles. Most recently as a planner at Elcon, Nick supported the TriMet Facilities System Master Plan exploring zero-emissions vehicle options for TriMet facilities. As the Events Vice President in ITE-STEP, Nick looks forward to broadening students' professional connections in order to provide a more equitable transportation workforce as well as attracting students in supportive fields such as electrical engineering to participate in the world of transportation.

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn and see their white paper on Planning for America’s Next Fuel Service Station here.

Laurel Priest, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Laurel Priest is an Urban and Regional Planning graduate student focusing on community engagement and transportation planning. She currently works for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) as a Community Service Aide II. She has also served as a PSU teaching assistant and as a Graduate Research Assistant for TREC, and completed an internship as a community recovery fellow at the Division-Midway Alliance for Community Improvement. As a MURP student in 2021 she worked on a proposal for Reimagining the PSU Campus.

Connect with Laurel on LinkedIn and see a report for the PSU Planning and Sustainability Office for 2021 and 2022. 

Caleb Susuras, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Caleb Susuras is a first-year MURP student who earned his BA from Ambrose University. He has experience as a voucher specialist with the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and has also worked for the Denver Regional Mobility and Access Council. He is committed to safe, equitable, and green streets.

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn and see a work sample comparing physical characteristics of Portland’s dangerous intersections.

Mouhamad Taha, B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Mouhamad Taha is a civil engineering student who’s interested in transportation engineering. He is in his junior year and almost done with his first transportation course. Mouhamad is looking forward to specializing in transportation engineering and transportation systems through the pathway program at PSU, which is a combination of bachelor's and master’s degrees in civil engineering. He is interested in highway and infrastructure design, and has always wanted to explore the transportation system in different countries and regions.

Huijun Tan, Ph.D. in Urban Studies

]Huijun Tan is a Ph.D. Candidate in Urban Studies at Portland State University. Her research interest focuses on transportation planning and equity. Her dissertation looks into equitable accessibility planning among marginalized communities and populations. In the past 5 years, she has been working on research and planning projects relevant to transit-oriented development, active transportation (e.g., crossing safety), transportation incentive program evaluation, and corridor master plan. Before her doctoral program, she had been involved in street improvement in a vulnerable community and innovative agriculture development in food desert communities. Also, she was engaged in some vacant land development and vacant land reuse research projects. The experience ingrains her interest in regional planning and social inequality issues. As a graduate research assistant she has worked with TREC researchers Nathan McNeil and John MacArthur on new ways of connecting traditionally underserved communities to transportation options represented by new technologies. 

Connect with Huijun on LinkedIn and watch her presentation in an April 2021 Friday Transportation Seminar: Evaluation of a Transportation Incentive Program for Affordable Housing Residents.

NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. Faculty committees at each of our partner universities nominate students for the scholarship program. See the NITC scholars from other member campuses.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Despite widespread use of walking as a transportation mode, walking has received far less attention than the motor vehicle in terms of national guidance and methods to support planning, designing, and operating safe, functional, and comfortable facilities. To address this gap, the TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program funded NCHRP Project 17-87: Enhancing Pedestrian Volume Estimation and Developing HCM Pedestrian Methodologies for Safe and Sustainable Communities. Led by Principal Investigator Paul Ryus, Kittelson & Associates partnered with Portland State University and the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina to lead research to update pedestrian analysis methodologies in the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). 

The research team created the following new products, published in 2022 and free to download from the National Academies Press:

• NCHRP Research Report 992: Guide to Pedestrian Analysis: Documents the state-of-the-practice for pedestrian volume counting, pedestrian safety analysis, and pedestrian operations analysis. A major portion of the research evaluated the effects of safety countermeasures at street crossings on pedestrian quality of service (QOS). You can also learn more about this repot by watching this short video introduction on this state-of-the-art guide.
• NCHRP Web-Only Document 312: Enhancing Pedestrian Volume Estimation and Developing HCM Pedestrian Methodologies for Safe and Sustainable Communities: New and updated HCM-compatible methodologies to evaluate the quality of networks of pedestrian facilities, and synthesized best practices for estimating pedestrian volumes and exposure:
  • A new method for evaluating pedestrian satisfaction and associated LOS at uncontrolled pedestrian crossings.
  • An updated method for estimating pedestrian delay at uncontrolled pedestrian crossings, including up-to-date information on motorist yielding rates for a wide variety of safety countermeasures.
  • An updated method for estimating pedestrian delay at signalized crossings covering a wider range of situations, including two-stage crossings, two-leg crossings, exclusive pedestrian phases, and crosswalk closures.
  • An update to the “roadway crossing difficulty” component of the HCM’s urban street pedestrian LOS method
• Two spreadsheet-based computational engines for implementing the new and updated analysis methods developed by the project
  • Signalized Crossing Pedestrian Delay Computational Engine
  • Uncontrolled Crossing Pedestrian Delay and LOS Computational Engine
• Five presentations from a peer exchange workshop:
  • Project Overview
  • Pedestrian Volume Counting
  • Pedestrian Operations Analysis
  • Pedestrian Quality of Service Analysis
  • Pedestrian Safety Analysis
• An Implementation Plan for putting this research into practice.
• Draft text to update NCHRP Report 825: Planning and Preliminary Engineering Applications Guide to the HCM to match the proposed HCM changes and incorporate a recommended approach to evaluating pedestrian network QOS

The research team included:

• Kittleson and Associates: Paul Ryus, Anusha Musunuru, and James Bonneson
• Portland State University: Sirisha Kothuri, Christopher Monsere, and Nathan McNeil
• Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina: Seth LaJeunesse, Krista Nordback, Wesley Kumfer, and Sophie Currin

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Photo by Dmytro Varavin/iStock

For governments and clean energy advocates looking to encourage people to use e-bikes for transportation, a new online tool from Portland State University researchers offers an overview of the existing incentive programs in the United States and Canada.

The E-Bike Incentive Programs in North America table tracks e-bike purchase incentive programs and key details that can provide a point of reference for the development of future e-bike incentive programs and policies, or for further research on the topic. Read a recent article about the tool in BikePortland.

John MacArthur, researcher at PSU's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC), led the development of the tool with the help of PSU transportation engineering masters student Cameron Bennett, a 2021 Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellow.

COMPARING TYPES OF E-BIKE INCENTIVE PROGRAMS

While the tracker shows a wide variety of approaches, Bennett identified Saanich, BC as demonstrating an especially promising model. Their "targeted universalism" approach uses econometric analysis to set appropriate incentive levels for various income brackets, helping those who need it most with the largest incentives.

One of the most surprising findings? Most programs seemed to set their incentive levels "fairly arbitrarily:"

"Many were based on a function of funding available and desired number of incentives, while many others were seemingly based on the $200 precedent set early on by Burlington Vermont. (Burlington's program was developed based on carbon tax savings over the lifetime of an e-bike.) Generally, it seems that little thought was given to the potential of the specific incentive value to induce new purchases that would not otherwise have happened for particular groups or income brackets," Bennett said.

PSU Student Cameron Bennett presents "How E-Bike Incentive Programs Are Used to Expand the Market (PDF)" in a TRB 2022 Eisenhower Poster Session (photo by Jennifer Dill)

One of the most challenging aspects of creating the tracker was that information on funding source, in most cases, was not readily available.

"There aren't enough programs with enough total participation to gain an understanding of the impact and effects of various sizes and delivery methods of incentives. John, Chris Cherry (UTK), Luke Jones (Valdosta State) and I will be conducting a stated preference survey in the coming months to address this gap in knowledge and help better inform future programs," Bennett said.

The tracker is one of several outputs of a larger e-bike project funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities with support from PeopleForBikes, and provides key details for each incentive program, including:

• Country, State, Location – Location that the program is available in.
• Administrator, Admin. Type – The program administrator and the administrator’s entity type.
• Status – Whether the program is currently active, closed, or otherwise.
• Incentive Style – How the incentive amount is determined.
• Discount Mechanism – How the incentive value is delivered to the recipient.
• Discount Rate – Incentive rate if the incentive is a percentage of e-bike purchase price.
• Minimum Purchase/Fee – Minimum required purchase price to qualify for the incentive, or the fee required to participate in loan-to-own programs.
• Maximum Incentive – Maximum incentive amount if the incentive is a percentage of e-bike purchase price. Incentive amount if the incentive is a flat rate.
• Total Earmark – Total program funding.
• Income-Qualified? – Is participation in the program restricted to a certain income level?
• Low-Income Option? – Are additional incentives available to people at certain income levels?
• Low-Income Threshold – Income limit to receive low-income benefits.
• Details/Links – Further details if required for program comprehension, links to program websites or news releases.
• Parent/Child Program – Indication of whether a program exists as a sub-program for a larger piece of legislation, or is a ‘parent’ of other sub-programs.

The tool was developed using web searches, google alerts, and an existing incentive program tracker provided by PeopleForBikes. The list is updated periodically (you can see when the most recent update was at the top of the spreadsheet) to reflect newly-implemented or proposed programs, current program status, or to include new programs as they emerge.

HOW E-BIKE INCENTIVE PROGRAMS CAN EXPAND THE MARKET

In 2019, MacArthur and fellow e-bike researcher Christopher Cherry of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, together with then-PSU student Michael McQueen, wrote a white paper exploring techniques to develop and structure e-bike incentive programs to reduce one of the biggest barriers to e-bike use: the high cost. "How E-Bike Incentive Programs are Used to Expand the Market" was published in conjuction with a second white paper, "Estimating the Effect of E-bikes On Person Miles Travelled and Greenhouse Gas Emissions."

In Fall 2021, the Chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors successfully used these white papers to advocate for a brand new e-bike incentive program that will serve low income residents from 3 counties on the California Central Coast. Through their regional Air Resources Board they are offering a $1,000 incentive for the purchase of an e-bike. "Your work to establish the value of e-bikes was tremendously valuable as I fought to gain support for a local program," shared Board Chair Wendy Root Askew.

Learn more about those research efforts in The E-Bike Potential: How E-Bikes Can Improve Sustainable Transportation.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE INCENTIVE COST AND IMPACT TOOL

The incentive tracker can be useful in conjunction with another online tool, developed by the same research team in 2020: the Electric Vehicle Incentive Cost and Impact Tool. This tool enables policymakers, public stakeholders, and advocates to quickly visualize the potential outcomes of an electric vehicle incentive program made up of several vehicle types. The tool estimates the cost efficiency of a proposed program in terms of the cost per kg CO2 avoided by each mode over the course of one year. It also takes the proposed budget into consideration to calculate the potential number of incentives to be made available and the amount of total CO2 that would be avoided due to internal combustion engine automobile VMT displacement.

Photo by Halfpoint/iStock

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

The 101st annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is coming up January 9 - 13, 2022, and has returned to an in-person gathering in Washington, D.C. This year’s theme at TRB is Innovating an Equitable, Resilient, Sustainable, and Safe Transportation System, and Portland State University (PSU) researchers and students are well qualified to share their work on that topic!

VIEW THE ONLINE GUIDE TO PSU AT TRB 2022

DOWNLOAD THE PSU PRESENTATION FILES

*Due to the evolving status of speaker attendance and TRB programming, please refer to your TRB schedule for the most current information in the event of changes.*

Innovating an Equitable Transportation System…

Exploring the Costs of Addressing Equity in the Transition to Cashless Fare Collection
Aaron Golub and John MacArthur are leading a poster session (#1418) on Jan 12th (10:30 AM - 12 PM). Read more about this study in NextCity's deep dive article: What Happens When Cash Fares Are Eliminated? 

Pedestrian Injuries by Social Equity Factors in Oregon: Measuring Statewide Pedestrian Injury Disparity Using Common Data
Nathan McNeil of TREC and and Joshua Roll of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will share results from ODOT's statewide analysis "Understanding Pedestrian Injuries and Social Equity" in a lectern session Jan 12 (1353) as well as a workshop (1431) on Jan 13. They presented an overview of the findings in an online seminar in October 2021; watch the recording to learn more.

Innovating a Resilient Transportation System…

Transportation System Resiliency and Disaster Response and Recovery: A Review on U.S. Metropolitan Long-range Transportation Plans
Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student Jai Daniels and TREC's John MacArthur will share national practices around transportation system resiliency and disaster recovery in a poster session (1152) on Monday Jan 10. Learn about TREC's ongoing resilient transportation infrastructure research, and get to know more about Jai in a March 2021 Student Spotlight interview.

“It’s Complicated”: Exploring the Relationship Status of In-store and Online Grocery Shopping During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Civil and Environmental Engineering professor Kelly Clifton and civil engineering grad student Max Nonnamaker, along with Gabriella Abou-Zeid of ICF, PSU alum Kristina Currans of the University of Arizona, and Amanda Howell of the University of Oregon will explore the future of our urban freight system under the increasing demands of pandemic-era online shopping, in a poster session (1374) on Jan 12. Read about related research led by Clifton on Consumer Responses to Household Provisioning During COVID-19 Crisis and Recovery.

Innovating a Sustainable Transportation System…

Modeling Optimal Drone Courier Fleet Size and Sustainability Tradeoffs
Miguel Figliozzi will share a model exploring the use of drones for last mile delivery along with Yuval Hadas of Bar Ilan University in a lectern session (1406) on Jan 12. For additional context, watch a 2018 presentation by Figliozzi on related research into the sustainability of drone deliveries.

Transit and Active Transportation Use for Non-commute Travel among Portland TOD Residents
Nathan McNeil and TREC director Jennifer Dill, in a poster session (1232) on Jan 11, will share survey-based insights on the travel behavior of transit-oriented development (TOD) residents. Learn more about that research: What Do 15 Years of Travel Surveys Tell Us About TOD Residents?

Innovating a Safe Transportation System…

Systemic Opportunities to Improve Older Pedestrian Safety: Merging Crash Data Analysis and a Stakeholder Workshop
In a lectern session (1162) on Jan 10, Jason Anderson, Sirisha Kothuri, and Christopher Monsere of civil engineering, with David Hurwitz of Oregon State University, will present a framework for improving older pedestrian safety, using Oregon as a case study. Along with other TREC researchers, Anderson, Kothuri and Monsere have conducted a wide variety of active transportation safety research; check out some of those projects here.

Evaluation of Posted Speed Limits Reductions on Urban Roads with a High Percentage of Cyclists
In the same session, Miguel Figliozzi, Jaclyn Schaefer and Avinash Unnikrishnan of civil engineering will present a before and after analysis of the impact of posted speed limit changes on passenger car speeds in Portland, OR. Read about related research on the impact of bicycle traffic on car travel speeds, and ​​the effects of reducing posted speed limits to 20 mph.

And so much more!

PSU researchers and students are bringing a lot of transportation expertise to TRB, including drone delivery, bicyclist comprehension of infrastructure, urban freight, and so much more! Check out our online guide to PSU at TRB 2022 for the full schedule.

Portland State Students at TRB

PSU students are bringing it to this year's TRB: 14 students are attending, coordinated by the student group, STEP - Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning and funded by our National Institute for Transportation and Communities program. Five PSU students will be presenting their work in poster and lectern sessions, and STEP president Cameron Bennet will receive an Eisenhower Fellowship presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

At the CUTC Awards Ceremony, to be held virtually on January 8, PSU PhD candidate Kelly Rodgers will be awarded the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) Outstanding Student of the Year.

National Institute of Transportation and Communities

We partner with five universities on a U.S. DOT funded research consortium. Our collective expertise on the mobility of people and goods is showcased in our online guide to NITC at TRB 2022, featuring 138 researchers from among NITC partner universities University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah, University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington, in addition to PSU.

Photos by Cait McCusker

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Portland State University students interested in a career in advancing biking and walking can find financial support through two active transportation scholarships from the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at PSU. Since 2008, nineteen students have been awarded.

Mia Birk, the founding donor, is an independent consultant with 27 years of experience in helping to make cities more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. She served as the City of Portland's bicycle coordinator from 1993 to 1999, then as President and CEO of Alta Planning + Design until 2016. Her TED Talk makes the case for "Pedaling Towards a Healthier Planet," and her book, Joyride: Pedaling Toward a Healthier Planet, tells the story of her twenty-year crusade to integrate bicycling into daily life.

Mia has been involved in TREC’s Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI) program for many years, and as an Adjunct Professor at PSU she wanted to support the future active transportation professionals in her community. Her former firm, Alta Planning + Design, provides funding and student support for the IBPI Active Transportation Scholarship and Internship. In 2015, Mia personally donated seed funding for a new endowed scholarship: IBPI Excellence in Active Transportation (donate here to support the future of the scholarship endowment).

We interviewed her to learn more of her story, and her motivation behind supporting the two Active Transportation Scholarships at PSU.

Why is supporting PSU’s active transportation students through this scholarship important to you? 

Active transportation has a positive impact on so many of the world's problems, and there aren't many things that have that potential for collective impact. In personal health, it helps us be more active in our daily lives. It has a positive impact on traffic congestion, noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution, and the socialization of humanity: instead of being isolated in metal boxes, we're able to see each other, talk to each other while we're out on the streets. I spent 27 years leading the field of active transportation and for me, functional societies are planned and designed around bicycling and walking at the core.

I am very passionate about providing an opportunity for students to learn this field, especially while it’s still relatively new and small. It’s still being incorporated into the structure of what we teach in universities, and I don't think there are a lot of opportunities to get a scholarship that's focused on active transportation. This scholarship serves students who really want to gear their life and career around active transportation. 

What should universities be placing a greater focus on in educating the next generation of active transportation professionals?

For me, active transportation is a way to prioritize public infrastructure. Everything that we do in active transportation is incredibly effective from a cost standpoint. Our streets last longer, and our dollars are stretched further. I'm not anti-car; I recognize the important role that motor vehicles play in our toolkit of transportation options. I'm just pro having a really robust toolkit, where we can select the right mode of transportation for different trips, depending on what we're doing; where we live, work and play, and how we organize our society. So the overall impact of active transportation is multiplied by every type of benefit that it brings, on a personal and a societal level. 

I spent four years in nonprofit work, six years in city government work. Later I spent 17 years in consulting, working with government agencies all across North America and beyond, and what I saw was that most university programs in planning and engineering focused education on the assumption that we are sitting around in cars with everybody driving.

So those students who get into transportation through university education have it reinforced by the people who are already in the industry: designing and building around motor vehicles. I think it's important that we break out of that cycle. 

What is a need in the active transportation workforce that emerging professionals could bring to the table? 

When I co-founded what became the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation program, we identified several key approach points: there was teaching students, there was research that needed to be done, and there was continuing education for professionals and educators. And, cross-pollination across the different sectors of the industry. So IBPI became a platform to enable those teaching and training programs for change and innovation. Around that time I also started providing IBPI scholarships and internships through my firm, Alta Planning + Design. That grew out of teaching at Portland State University. One of my students, Mike Tresidder, who now works at the Spokane Transit Authority, basically said, ‘hey, would you hire me?’ And I thought, oh, that's kind of interesting. So we gave the internship a try. Another early participant in the internship program was Michael Rose. He's vice president at Alta now; he came and he stayed for the long haul. I learned that it was amazing for the students, to learn what we're doing; and it was amazing for us, because we got these smart, driven young people invested in active transportation. And you know, we could really build our whole workforce with that. 

That was the foundation of my understanding that the whole cycle relates to students: what they learn, how they engage, how they're integrated with the world of transportation outside of PSU. Right off the bat, these students were very well rounded and really interested in how to make long-lasting change happen, and so I became really enamored with how we prepare those students for the workforce and be able to positively influence the places that they work in.

When you were a student, what helped you? What did you find valuable as career support?

The best investment I ever made in myself was in my own education. I would not have been successful if I hadn't. So I believe passionately in ensuring that students get to learn and use what they learn to have a positive impact on society. That's what the scholarship is all about to me. I was so moved by students that have said to me that even that small amount of money was important to them and that they were able to make it work financially. 

I learned so much from our interns, they learned from us, so it was a cycle. And immediately they were able to apply what they learned to real-life situations all over the country. Then they brought interns in, and then they came and taught at Portland State, so it was like the gift that keeps giving. I see the scholarship as like planting seeds that grow beautiful, beautiful gardens.

Launched by Mia's initial seed donation, the Excellence in Active Transportation fund has also been supported in part by Alta Planning + Design, Kittleson, and a number of individual private donors.

Interested in supporting the next generation of active transportation scholars and professionals? Donate to the active transportation scholarship endowment here.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.