IBPI Study Abroad: Sustainable Transportation in Denmark

June 21–July 5, 2025

The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI) presents an introduction to sustainable transportation and land use applications in the context of Denmark through a two-week study abroad program in summer 2025. The course offers an immersive experience to explore European approaches to cycling, transit, innovative mobility, and land use. The curriculum features material that provides a comparison between the U.S. and Denmark in terms of problems, priorities, and solutions, and daily field excursions offer firsthand experience of Denmark's bikeways, pedestrian infrastructure, and public transit systems. A final design project gives students the opportunity to apply lessons learned overseas to specific challenges in a U.S. context. This program is open to college juniors/seniors, graduate students from any university, and professionals. Capacity is limited to 15 participants, so apply early!

Bikes and Transit Riders Sharing Space: Researchers Evaluate TriMet's New FX2 Bus Platform Design

PSU researchers partnered with TriMet to evaluate the design of a new shared-use bus platform that incorporates a sidewalk-level bike lane. The FX2-Division is a Frequent Express (FX) bus line that runs from downtown Portland to Gresham. To accommodate passing bicyclists and transit riders accessing the new FX2 line, TriMet worked with the City of Portland and a broad group of stakeholders and partners to create a design that would allow bikes to stay separated from automobile traffic, with the bikeway passing through the platform area next to where people wait for the bus. The PSU research team consisted of Nathan McNeil and Jennifer Dill of TREC, with Sirisha Kothuri and Christopher Monsere of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. The project, FX2 Shared Bicycle & Pedestrian Platform Evaluation, assessed how well the new design is working for transit riders and other road users along Portland's Southeast Division Street. 

IBPI Bikeway Design Workshop Wraps Up Its Fifteenth Year With A Successful Program

Our annual summer Bikeway Design workshop, offered through the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), was held last August at Portland State University. Eighteen professionals attended. The final day of the workshop, students convened in PSU's Engineering Building to confer together about design problems they were currently being challenged by in their home communities.

"The IBPI Bikeway Design Course gives tangible examples of policies and standards in action. The Neighborhood Greenways are a wonderful example of how walking and bicycling has been prioritized by policy, and then you physically ride a bike and see the diverters and traffic calming measures realizing this vision. I would highly recommend anyone attend this course to learn and experience the practical design implementation of a great cycling city," said one participant.

PSU Transportation Seminar: Bike Buses: An Evaluation of An Emerging Active Transportation to School Intervention

Friday, October 25, 11:30 AM Pacific

Bike Buses are a relatively new form of Active Transportation to School (ATS) that have gained popularity in Europe and the United States in recent years. Generally, a bike bus consists of one or more adult supervisors, often parents, who guide a group of students along a defined ‘route’ to one or more schools. Using literature from the last 15 years published on ATS in North America, researchers John MacArthur, Nathan McNeil, and Evan Howington of TREC identify four thematic areas of influence on Bike Buses: school policies, parent and student attitudes and behaviors, the urban environment, and the street environment. In this seminar, they'll present findings from surveys of bike bus coordinators and parents at schools with bike buses in Portland, Oregon.

More PSU Transportation Seminars this Fall

Fridays at 11:30 AM Pacific

Supported by PSU's Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, we've got a series of Friday Transportation Seminars happening all through the Fall term. Upcoming speakers and topics include:

• Let Knowledge Serve the City! A Decade of Better Block PSU Projects with Ryan Hashagen of Better Block PDX
• Addressing Transportation Emissions through State Climate and Energy Policy with Amy Schlusser of the Oregon Department of Energy
• EV Charging at Multifamily Properties: Moving Beyond Barriers with Whit Jamieson, Anna Guida, and Connor Herman of Forth Mobility
• and more!

TRANSPORTATION UPDATES

• Toward Oregon 2050: Planning A Better Future: Edited by urban planning professor Megan Horst and with contributions from TREC's John MacArthur, Toward Oregon 2050 envisions plans to guide the state through the coming years.
• Oregon ITE Traffic Bowl 2024: The 33rd Annual Bill Kloos Traffic Bowl will be held on Thursday, November 21, with doors opening at 5:30 PM.
• ODOT Safe Routes to School Activity Kits: Free kits are available for communities interested in programs such as bike/walking school buses, crossing guards, etc.
• Call For Abstracts: Western District ITE is issuing a call for abstracts for the 2025 Western District Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA. Abstracts are due December 6th.
• Community Resilience to Cascading Impacts of Extreme Events: A new grant will train PSU students to support community resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
• East Burnside Bus & Bike Lane Improvements (PDF): Part of the Central City in Motion Plan, see the Portland Bureau of Transportation's before & after evaluation report.
• Guide for Maintaining Active Transportation Infrastructure for Enhanced Safety: A new guide released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

Transportation Research and Education Center, PSU

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is a multidisciplinary hub for all things transportation. We are home to the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), the data programs PORTAL and BikePed Portal, the Better Block PSU program, and PSU's membership in PacTrans, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium. Our continuing goal is to produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education, seminars, and participation in research.