OTREC Newsletter December 2010

Good transportation decisions rely on good models. Yet, despite advances in transportation modeling, there had been no dedicated training ground for the next generation of modelers. That all changed with the launch of the Oregon Modeling Collaborative Nov. 12. The collaborative will serve as a living laboratory to put the research from some of America’s top modelers into practice across Oregon.
 
On Nov. 12, we welcomed Peter Appel, administrator of the federal Research and Innovative Technology Administration, to Portland to kick off the collaborative with researchers, practitioners and policymakers from across the Northwest. In a keynote address, Appel drew on his experience both as a modeler and as RITA administrator to stress the importance of data-driven decision-making. "It's about making sure that all that great academic research you did gets used correctly by the actual decision makers," he said. Read more.
 
Bridge brace elements that resist increasingly heavy trucks can buckle under compressive loads. Portland State University researcher Peter Dusicka found that reinforcing the elements with fiber reinforced composites helps prevent buckling. Read the research report.
 
Ten OTREC researchers, staff, and students participated in the Transportation Research Board and University Transportation Center Transportation Systems for Livable Communities Conference last week in Washington, D.C. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners from transportation, housing and public health. Read more.
 
Many factors can lead to bus crashes. In the Portland-area TriMet transit system, Portland State University researcher James Strathman found incidents decrease for a driver’s first 33 years of service and then increased. Incidents decrease until drivers reach 33.3 years of age and then similarly increase. Read the research report.
 
Peter Jacobsen presented the Vision Zero concept at an October transportation seminar at Portland State University. Vision Zero resets the goal of transportation systems from reducing total crashes to eliminating fatalities. That’s especially important for children, who don’t perceive their surroundings the same way adults do. Read more.
 
Portland State University’s Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning took first place in the Oregon Institute of Transportation Engineers’ William C. Kloos Traffic Bowl, held Nov. 18 at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale. The Oregon Institute of Technology’s ITE student chapter won third place. Read more.
 
Students from OTREC programs gave the Oregon Transportation Commission their insights into the future of the transportation professions at an October commission workshop in Bend. Students from three OTREC campuses joined researcher Kate Hunter-Zaworski on a panel aimed at providing the commission direction on its role in the changing transportation environment. Read more.