Metro—the regional government of the Portland, Oregon area—strategically invests in transit-oriented development, or TOD, to help more people live in neighborhoods served by high-quality transit.
Research Associate Kyu Ri Kim Explores How "Perceived Safety" Plays A Central Role In Improving The Walking Environment
When Kyu Ri Kim was seven years old, she was struck by a car while walking in her neighborhood where there was no separate walkway for pedestrians in Seoul, South Korea. Kim, who is now an adjunct research associate at TREC, received nerve damage in her legs and had to use a wheelchair for several days after the incident. This experience launched her interest in pedestrian safety, which eventually led to her 2024 doctoral dissertation research project, The Central Role of Perceived Safety in Connecting Crash Risk Factors and Walking Behavior. "That was the real starting point, my personal experience. And I'm curious whether other people really do understand the real risk around them. What are the crash risk factors around them and how are they different from individual perceived risk?" Kim said. Her dissertation illuminates the relationship between pedestrian crash risk factors and perceived safety, as well as the relationship between safety attitudes and walking behavior.
A Decades-Long Partnership with PSU Helps Metro Guide Investment and Development in the Portland Region
This year, residents of 37 new apartment buildings in the Portland area are receiving surveys in the mail. The reason? PSU researchers are requesting information about how they travel. Knowing how residents of these high-density affordable and mixed-income housing developments get around town is key to guiding future development in the metropolitan area. Metro—the regional government of the Portland, Oregon area—strategically invests in transit-oriented development, or TOD, to help more people live in neighborhoods served by high-quality transit. In a partnership going back nearly twenty years, PSU has supported the Metro TOD program by collecting data on residents' travel habits. This latest round of surveys will add to a knowledge base that has been useful for both Metro and PSU.
Flying Freight: PSU Researcher Explores Logistics of Drone Deliveries
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are increasingly being used to deliver medical supplies and other goods. In the U.S., where e-commerce grew by 30% rate in 2020, drone deliveries are expected to become a 7 billion US dollar market by 2027. Though many studies have proposed different models for drones, there is a lack of understanding of the current and future limits of drone technologies for deliveries. Two recent publications by Miguel Figliozzi of PSU's Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science explore different aspects of optimizing and improving upon the use of UAVs for e-commerce deliveries. Figliozzi is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and a member of the Transportation Research Board Urban Freight committee, and his main research areas are transportation systems modeling, statistical analysis, and optimization. He has published a number of papers analyzing drone delivery and other areas of freight transportation.
Creating a Statewide Biking and Walking Database for California
As Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) moves to prioritize active transportation modes, access to pedestrian and bicyclist counts has become increasingly important. Active transportation projects can help cities and states achieve multiple climate- and public-health-related targets, and walking and bicycling data can be used by planners to evaluate demand for nonmotorized infrastructure and by engineers to improve safety. A new project launching in 2024 can help further those goals: California is getting a statewide active transportation count database. With help from PSU researcher Sirisha Kothuri, the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California, Berkeley is leading an effort to create a centralized data repository for the state.
Tired of finding errors in your spreadsheets that perpetuate and cascade through your work? Still trying to cram “big” data into tiny worksheets? Wish you had an easier way to easily share data and results with others? Want to better manage and maintain your workflow? Always wanted to learn R and version control but never found the time? If any of your answers are yes, then this course is for you! After several years of hiatus, we are excited to host an "Intro to R" workshop where we will cover coding and scripting basics, data wrangling and visualizations, version control & best practices, and where to go for help. The introductory three-day workshop will be taught by transportation data program administrator Tammy Lee and adjunct research associate Joe Broach of Portland State University. Click the link below to see course prerequisites and software requirements.
Headshot Happy Hour: On August 8, Oregon ITE along with WSP, APA, and YPT are joint hosting a happy hour complete with free professional headshots, food and beverages.
USDOT Reconnecting Communities: The US Department of Transportation has announced the third round of its Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, with more than $600 million available for both capital construction and community planning grants.
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.
Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC), Portland State University, 1900 SW 4th Ave, Suite 175, Portland, OR 97201
%20Portland%20State%20University%20March%202024-2.png?upscale=true&width=1200&upscale=true&name=TREC%20(Transportation%20Research%20and%20Education%20Center)%20Portland%20State%20University%20March%202024-2.png)
.png?upscale=true&width=400&upscale=true&name=SQUARE%20IMAGE.%20(1).png)
