Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online or in-person at 11:30 AM. All presentations are recorded and shared on the event page afterwards.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Slides
• PDH Certificate

THE TOPIC 

In 2015, the Portland City Council unanimously passed a resolution committing Portland to Vision Zero, the goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. An underpinning of Vision Zero is that streets are managed for safe speeds. This presentation will summarize Portland's speed management process, how it relates to achieving Vision Zero, and present two case studies in which speed limits were reduced: (1) a 25 mi/h to 20 mi/h reduction on residential streets and (2) various reductions on arterials and collectors. Reduction sites in which additional treatments were implemented, such as speed humps and fixed speed safety cameras, will also be discussed. Results of the data analysis will be shared, along with next steps in Portland's speed management process.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Knowledge of Portland's Speed Management process and how it impacts safety;
• The effects of speed limit reductions on observed vehicle speeds for different roadway classifications;
• The effects of speed limit reductions in conjunction with other treatments on observed vehicle speeds;
• Application of statistical models to determine effects of treatment

SPEAKER

Jason Anderson, Research Associate & Adjunct Instructor, Portland State University

Dr. Jason C. Anderson is a research associate and adjunct instructor at Portland State University. Dr. Anderson’s expertise is in data analytics, particularly advanced statistical and econometric methods, with an emphasis on transportation safety, transportation economics, travel behavior, and policy (impacts of policy changes on safety). His work on policy-related contexts has led Oregon to develop and maintain a Safety Action Plan aimed at reducing truck driver-at-fault crashes on state highways. He was also part of a team that updated Oregon’s safety investigation tools. He has been PI and Co-PI on projects related to each of these areas. Although much of Dr. Anderson’s work has been focused on freight transportation, he has worked on several projects that focus on various modes. His work on pedestrian safety has led to countermeasure evaluation and selection in the state of Oregon. Dr. Anderson’s research on transportation safety has helped advance fundamental knowledge on various factors that influence the risk and severity of freight transportation-related crashes and the effects of speed limit changes on driving behavior and safety. Recently, Dr. Anderson has begun fusing these statistical and econometric methods with machine learning approaches to study transportation safety and travel behavior.

Clay Veka, Vision Zero Coordinator, Portland Bureau of Transportation

Clay Veka (she/her) is the Vision Zero Coordinator at the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). She has worked in traffic safety for 15 years, including joining PBOT’s Vision Zero team when it launched in 2015. Clay has her master’s degree in Urban Design and Planning from the University of Washington.

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.

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.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online or in-person at 11:30 AM. All presentations are recorded and shared on the event page afterwards.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Presentation Slides
• WSDOT Complete Streets Handout
• Links and Resources
• PDH Certificate

THE TOPIC 

In order to improve the safety, mobility, and accessibility of state highways, the Washington State legislature directed Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to incorporate the principles of complete streets in state transportation projects and to plan, design, and construct facilities that provide street access with all users in mind, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transportation users. This new requirement was passed as part of the Move Ahead Washington package in the 2022 legislative session and is effective for state transportation projects starting design on or after July 1, 2022 with a project cost of $500,000 or more. This provides a tremendous opportunity to fill in gaps in the active transportation network and build partnerships between WSDOT and local jurisdictions to provide mobility options and increased quality of life in communities across the state. Come learn how complete streets are being implemented in state transportation projects in Washington, and the recipe for implementation that is leading to transformative changes.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• The many co-benefits of complete streets
• How Washington is using Level of Traffic Stress goals to provide facilities that invite active transportation trips
• The ingredients that together have made this new requirement a tipping point for complete streets in Washington state
• New national resources available to support complete streets implementation

SPEAKER

Celeste Gilman, Strategic Policy Administrator, Washington State Department of Transportation
Celeste Gilman is the Strategic Policy Administrator based in WSDOT's Active Transportation Division and has led the implementation of Complete Streets for state transportation projects since the passage of the new requirement in the Move Ahead Washington package. Celeste has held a number of roles at WSDOT, including Transportation and Land Use Policy Advisor and Deputy Director of the Regional Transit Coordination Division. Prior to joining WSDOT, Celeste led the University of Washington's award-winning sustainable transportation programs, helping Huskies choose to use non-drive alone modes for 80% of their trips to campus. Celeste has over twenty years of experience in sustainable transportation and has shared her expertise locally, nationally, and internationally.

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.

Photo courtesy of Seattle DOT

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.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Slides
• PDH Certificate

OVERVIEW

This webinar will introduce you to the concept of the Community Transportation Academy (CTA), a model which has been operating in Portland for over 30 years in the form of the Portland Traffic and Transportation (PTT) class. Now catching on in other cities, the project team recently implemented the Wasatch Transportation Academy (WTA) in Salt Lake City. The presenters also include key stakeholders (and guest lecturers) in the WTA, and the PTT instructor. The presentation will include discussions about why CTAs can be good for both community members and transportation agencies/practitioners, and how you can bring a CTA to your city.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• How to make interactions between community members and transportation agencies more effective
• How to increase human capital and community capacity by teaching community members how and where they can engage in transportation decision-making processes
• Lessons from transportation agency leaders on why a more educated public can make agency activities work better
• Details on running a community transportation academy

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at Portland State University and the University of Utah. Read more about the research: Launching the Wasatch Transportation Academy.

SPEAKERS

Nathan McNeil, Portland State University

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, University of Utah

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.

Laura Hanson, State Planning Coordinator, Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget

Laura joined the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (GOPB) in 2021 with over 20 years of experience as a professional planner in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining GOPB, Laura served as the Planning Director for the Utah Transit Authority. Laura also served as the first Executive Director of the Jordan River Commission (JRC). She holds bachelor degrees in urban planning and environmental studies, and a master degree in urban planning from the University of Utah. Post graduate certificates include public involvement, leadership, conflict resolution, and visual resource management. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards from the Quality Growth Commission, Utah Chapters of the American Planning Association, American Society for Landscape Architects. Laura enjoys spending her free time at her family’s ranch in Woodland, Utah, camping in southern Utah, enjoying live music, and skiing with her husband Derrek and children, Anna and Leo.

Andrea Olson, Planning Director, Utah Department of Transportation

Andrea Olson has been working in land use and transportation planning in Utah for over two decades, having worked in both the private and public sectors including the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, the Wasatch Front Regional Council, InterPlan and Parametrix. Prior to becoming UDOT’s Planning Director in April 2019, she was the Region One Planning Manager, working with local and regional agencies to identify and plan for multi-modal transportation solutions that fit within the context of each community and help maintain the safety and viability of the overall transportation network. She holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Thuy Tu, Thuy Tu Consulting, LLC

Ms. Thuy Tu has over twenty-five years of experience as a Senior Transportation Planner and Civil Engineering Project Manager. She is an innovative collaborator, progressive communicator, educator and believes in people-focused urban design concepts and methods. She graduated from Benson Polytechnic High School and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Portland where her studies were focused on traffic and transportation. Now the principal and founder of her own consulting firm, she has been an adjunct professor at the University of Portland, at the Portland Campus of the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts, and a mentor of project management and civil engineering for the Portland State University Student Chapter of Engineers without Borders. Thuy has also led a course on Master Planning for Resiliency for the Lents Community and Vision Planning for 82nd Avenue.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute webinar 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.

LEARN MORE

Sign up for our newsletter to get updates on our events.

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

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online or in-person at 11:30 AM. All presentations are recorded and shared on the event page afterwards.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Slides
• PDH Certificate

THE TOPIC 

Human behavior is notoriously difficult to change, but a disruption of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to bring about long-term behavioral changes. During the pandemic, people were forced to experience new ways of interacting, working, learning, shopping, traveling, and eating meals. A critical question going forward is how these experiences have actually changed preferences and habits in ways that might persist. We collected a nationally-representative, 3-wave panel survey in the U.S. that aims to shed light on this question. This talk will draw from these data to describe how the pandemic did (and did not) change how we live in cities, what we still don't know, and in which areas urban planners should adjust their assumptions as we look to the future.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Many of the effects of COVID-19 on our lives appear to have been short-lived; many of our 2019 trip making patterns are back.
• An important exception is the fraction of workers who telecommute; our data suggest telecommuting will be *at least* double its 2019 rate for the foreseeable future.
• With more telecommuting, we expect that demand for three key urban services may not fully return to 2019 levels anytime soon: transit, restaurants, and office space.

SPEAKER

Deborah Salon, Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Salon studies transportation in cities with the goal of better understanding of how these systems work, and how policies and smart investments might improve them. She is passionate about doing research that can help solve real-world problems, and a common thread in her work is to inform policies that aim to reduce global automobile dependence. Salon employs methods ranging from qualitative, interview-based research to advanced econometric analysis. She holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis. Before joining the faculty at ASU, Salon completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia University's Earth Institute and subsequently held a research appointment at UC Davis's Institute of Transportation Studies.

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.

Photo by Yoav Aziz on Unsplash

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.

We are committed to making decisions that promote the success and well-being of our campus community. Until further notice, all live events hosted by TREC will be online only. Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online at 11:30 AM.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch the video
• View Roshin Kurian's presentation slides
• View Nathan McNeil's presentation slides

THE TOPIC

This seminar presents the results from the Transportation Wallet for Residents of Affordable Housing (TWRAH) pilot program launched by the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). The program provided a set of transportation incentives for low-income participants including a $308 pre-paid visa card which could be applied to public transit or other transportation services, a free bike share membership, and access to discounted rates on several services. The researchers conducted a survey with the program’s participants to understand how they used the Transportation Wallet and how the program helped them use different modes to get around. The main findings include:

1. The financial support of this program encouraged some participants to use new mobility services (including Uber/Lyft, bike share, and e-scooter) that they had never used before;
2. The program increased access for participants, helping them make more trips and, for some, get to places they otherwise could not have gone; and,
3. Transportation Fairs, where participants could learn about services and talk to providers, promoted both mode sign-up and mode usage, particularly for new mobility and a reduced fare transit program.

This presentation will provide insights into the implementation and effectiveness of a transportation financial incentive program for low-income populations.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Understand background and the elements of the Transportation Wallet for Residents of Affordable Housing (TWRAH) pilot program;
• Learn how the program was implemented and how the residents used the Wallet;
• Understand how a program like the Wallet could be implemented to provide incentives and financial benefits to low-income populations thru a transportation demand management program.

SPEAKERS

Huijun Tan, Portland State University

Huijun Tan is a PhD student in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. With a masters degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, her research now primarily focuses on transportation equity research and gentrification impacts on accessibility among marginalized populations and communities. She is dedicated to investigating how accessibility is associated with neighborhood change in low-income areas in order to provide policy implications for transportation planning and land use planning. Her research also looks forward to identifying mechanisms of preventing or mitigating the adverse impacts (derived from transportation investment) on communities, especially for minorities and low- income neighborhoods.

Roshin Kurian, Transportation Demand Management Specialist, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT)

Roshin Kurian is a Transportation Demand Specialist at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, bringing expertise in both the transportation and public health fields, with a deep commitment to transportation justice. Roshin’s portfolio includes the development and management of many active transportation equity programs. Roshin manages Adaptive BIKETOWN, BIKETOWN for All, and the Transportation Wallet pilot for residents of affordable housing amongst her TDM efforts. She works to amplify community voices in government and advocates for a safe, accessible, affordable and healthy transportation system. In her free time, you will find her exploring Portland by bike and foot, attempting to appreciate IPAs, planning bike gang adventures, and traveling to new cities to evaluate their bike and scooter shares.

Nathan McNeil, Portland State University

Nathan McNeil is a Research Associate at Portland State University's Center for Urban Studies. He conducts research on impacts of active transportation and transit equity, on new bicycle infrastructure and programs on travel behavior and attitudes towards cycling, on shared-use mobility programs including carsharing and bike-share, and on the connection between land-use and transportation. He was Co-Principal Investigator on recent national studies of bike share equity (Breaking Barrier to Bike Share and National Scan of Bike Share Equity Programs) and of protected bike lane implementations (Lessons from the Green Lanes). Nathan received a master of urban and regional planning from Portland State University (PSU) 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.

John MacArthur, Portland State University

Mr. John MacArthur is the Sustainable Transportation Program Manager at TREC at Portland State University. He is active in research related to sustainable and equitable transportation, particularly in the areas of emerging technologies, e-bikes, bike share, transit, and the relationship between transportation and public health. Mr. MacArthur is the Section Chair for Transportation Research Board’s AME00 Transportation and Society and a member of Innovative Public Transportation Services and Technologies (AP020). He received his BS in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University and a MS in Environmental Health Sciences from the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.

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.

LEARN MORE

Photo by Cait McCusker

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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.