The Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans) is excited to invite you to the 10th Annual PacTrans Transportation conference in Moscow, Idaho. PacTrans is proud to provide a premier forum for transportation research in the Pacific Northwest. Each year the conference aims to hear from leaders in transportation, showcase innovation in technology and research, provide a means for collaboration, and advance the transportation workforce. This one-day event will feature a keynote address by Eddie Curtis of the Federal Highway Administration, along with a series of technical breakout sessions and other activities. PSU's own Sirisha Kothuri will co-lead a workshop on Active Transportation and Planning with Nick Foster and Ahmed Abdel-Rahim. Check out the agenda to see what other sessions are on offer, and register today!
Bike-Ped Portal: Making the Most of Non-Motorized Data
In recent years, cities and counties all across the United States have invested in bicycle and pedestrian counters. Having reliable data on non-motorized traffic can help jurisdictions make informed decisions about infrastructure investments, measure the effectiveness of biking and walking initiatives, and improve safety. But having a bike-ped count program is just the beginning. Once counts have been collected, cities face new challenges. How can multiple agencies share data among themselves? How can data be standardized and compared? And what is the most effective way to communicate what the numbers mean? Enter Bike-Ped Portal, the comprehensive non-motorized data management system for manual and automated non-vehicular multi-modal counts housed at PSU. This specialized data lake and management system is designed to make sharing data—within an agency, with partners at other agencies, and with the public—easily accessible. The latest feature you'll want to check out is a new regional dashboard for the Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA metropolitan area.
A Bridgeless Interval: Better Block PSU Reimagines Burnside Street
As plans move forward for an earthquake-ready replacement of Portland's Burnside Bridge, several Portland neighborhood associations and the Better Block PSU program are taking the opportunity to reimagine a segment of West Burnside street. With bridge closure and construction anticipated to begin as early as 2026 and last for several years, the temporary period of reduced traffic on Burnside will offer a unique chance for the neighborhood to test out some designs and placemaking strategies aimed at making the area more people-friendly. "We can use the closure period as a test bed; a pilot for what we want the street to be in the future," said Xavier Stickler, chair of the Downtown Neighborhood Association's Land Use and Transportation Committee. In the Spring term of this year, students in a Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning course began investigating the area, outlining possible design approaches and drafting a public engagement plan.
Students Demonstrate Computer-Driven Solutions to Transportation Challenges at Summer Research Symposium
Last month PSU, two students showcased their work on transportation topics in a Summer Research Symposium held by the Virtual Alternative Research Experience for Undergraduates (altREU) Site on Computational Modeling. While students in the altREU program worked on subjects ranging from crime analysis to predicting stock market trends, two participants chose to focus their efforts on multimodal transportation. Linden Faye of Hofstra University and Allie Hopper of Carleton College dedicated their time in the ten-week program to modeling the impacts of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and using machine learning to forecast nonmotorized count data. Learn more about their projects below, and join us in congratulating these two students on their excellent work!
PSU Transportation Seminar: Transportation Decarbonization: A State Perspective
Friday, October 4, 11:30 AM
Oregon continues to be a leader in Transportation Decarbonization efforts nationally. In this seminar, Tara Weidner, Climate Impact Analysis Program Lead, for the Oregon Department of Transportation's Climate Office, will outline the state’s transportation GHG reduction roadmap, developed in 2012 to tackle legislatively mandated GHG reduction goals, with associated GHG targets for the state’s 8 metropolitan areas. Learn how this north star has guided our collective efforts within the state. How monitoring and new initiatives and regulations have kept us on course to these ambitious goals. And what actions remain to close the gap, both systematic changes at state and local levels, as well as individual choices by private firms and households. Actions that will both reduce vehicle miles travelled, as well as clean up each vehicle mile.
Integrating Socioeconomic Vulnerability Into Resilient Infrastructure Planning
Transportation networks are a vital lifeline essential to the functionality of modern society. A new report offers a new methodology for assessing transportation network vulnerability and resilience, with a particular focus on incorporating social vulnerability into the analysis. Why? Vulnerable populations—such as people with low income, minorities, or seniors—could suffer higher levels of adverse impacts from disruptions. Road closures and other transportation network interruptions due to earthquakes, floods or other disasters may disproportionately affect these groups of people. The research project, "Integrate Socioeconomic Vulnerability for Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Planning," by Liming Wang, John MacArthur, and Yu Xiao of PSU, addresses a critical gap by integrating socioeconomic vulnerability indicators into the evaluation of transportation infrastructure vulnerabilities.
How To Build A Bikeway: BikePortland's latest installment in a series of articles inspired by our IBPI summer Bikeway Design workshops at Portland State University.
WTS Salem Event: ODOT Funding Challenges: Travis Brouwer, ODOT’s Assistant Director for Revenue and Finance, will talk about Oregon's transportation funding challenges and the work to address them. Wednesday, Oct 23.
TriMet’s Board of Directors welcomes two new members: Selected by Gov. Tina Kotek, Erin Graham and JT Flowers will fill seats vacated by former Board President and District 2 Director Ozzie Gonzalez and retiring District 5 Director Keith Edwards.
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
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