OTREC Newsletter March 2011

OTREC March 2011 Newsletter

peter labAs a student at the University of British Columbia, OTREC researcher Peter Dusicka pursued earthquake engineering in part because so few others had taken that path. “I was looking for a way to make a difference and looking for areas within civil engineering that seemed immature,” Dusicka said.

There was too much guesswork as to how well the Pacific Northwest’s transportation network would handle the type of subduction zone earthquakes the region is prone to. Now, thanks in part to Dusicka’s research, we know a lot more.

In an OTREC research project, Dusicka examined Oregon’s bridges and found that the existing damage model would underestimate the effects of a major earthquake in the state. “Our bridges are more fragile than the national model (indicates),” he said, because of how the bridges were designed and built before the 1980s. “We didn’t have a good sense of the risk and we didn’t know how to design effectively then.”

Now that transportation officials know how vulnerable Oregon’s bridges are, which bridges should they retrofit first? Here, again, Dusicka is lighting the way. Read more…
 
In a tent in a parking lot under a freeway bridge, Ray LaHood saw the future of the country’s transportation network March 22. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation spoke to reporters, dignitaries and construction workers in the muddy work zone of Southwest Moody Avenue.

Last year, the project to rebuild Moody Avenue received a $23.2 million grant from the federal stimulus package. The project will double the streetcar tracks and add a cycle track and sidewalks. It will also ease connections to a new transit bridge that will carry the Portland-Milwaukie light rail line, the eastside streetcar loop, cyclists and pedestrians. Read more…
 
A digital signboard over the freeway tells you to expect a 15-minute trip, but you get there in 10 minutes—or 30 minutes. Sometimes those signboards, called dynamic message signs, are way off, Portland State University researcher Kristin Tufte found. But sometimes that doesn’t matter.

Tufte examined the signboards, called dynamic message signs, along Portland-area freeways in an OTREC project. Read more or download the research report.
 
Fleet managers can benefit from buying electric vehicles under certain conditions, according to a research paper by Portland State University associate professor Miguel Figliozzi. The paper marks OTREC’s first electric vehicle-related research accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

The paper finds that incorporating electric vehicles makes the most sense for heavily used fleets when gasoline prices are high, assuming electric vehicle tax credits continue. Read more…
 
University of Oregon master’s student Kory Northrop won an award for the best poster at the recent Region X Student Transportation Conference in Corvallis. Northrop, a second-year Environmental Studies student, along with Planning, Public Policy and Management students Michael Duncan and Ted Sweeney, presented their work Feb. 18. The group created a bicycle infrastructure database for Salem, Ore., as part of the Sustainable Cities Initiative, one of three OTREC initiatives. Read more…
 
Bad streets don’t just create frustrating commutes, Dan Burden told a Eugene crowd Feb. 28. They also hurt our health, environment and economy. Burden, executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, spoke as part of the University of Oregon’s LiveMove Transportation Speaker Series. A national authority on bicycle and pedestrian programs, street corridor and intersection design, and traffic calming, Burden started advocating for active transportation 38 years ago. Read more...
 
Portland State University students visited Seattle March 4 for the second leg of a multi-campus high-speed-rail workshop begun in February in Portland. Daniel Carlson of the University of Washington and Ethan Seltzer of Portland State put together the two-campus workshop to link and enhance courses at their respective universities. Read more…
Seatbelt safety advertisement wins Portland State team national honors