OTREC Events

June 2013


Inaccessible Accessibility: low-income households and barriers to the “new American dream”

June 7, 2013 12:00 pm - June 7, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker:Arlie Adkins, PhD Candidate in Urban Studies, PSU
 
Topic: Inaccessible Accessibility: low-income households and barriers to the “new American dream”
 
Summary: In many ways, the resurgence in demand for housing in highly accessible and walkable neighborhoods can be viewed as a triumph of planning and policy efforts to reinvest in walkable urban neighborhoods that support active travel. However, increased demand has resulted in price premiums that can make location-efficient housing choices more difficult for low-income households. This research uses data from a survey of recent movers in six U.S. cities, including Portland, to explore the extent to which households of different economic means are able to choose housing locations that match their accessibility and transportation preferences.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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May 2013


Skateboarding as Transportation: Findings from Exploratory Research

May 31, 2013 12:00 pm - May 3, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker:Tessa Walker, MUS Student, PSU
 
Topic: Skateboarding as Transportation: Findings from Exploratory Research
 
Bio: Tessa Walker is currently completing her thesis on non-motorized transportation and qualitative research methods with supervision from Dr. Jennifer Dill and Dr. David Morgan. For more information on her thesis research please visit the Skate Study PDX website (http://www.skatestudypdx.wordpress.com). Tessa has previously worked in town planning in Vermont, sustainability auditing in Massachusetts, and in bicycle and pedestrian transportation research with the Family Activity Study at PSU. She is currently an intern at the public opinion research firm DHM Research, and she will be a 2013-2014 Hatfield Fellow.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Are Bicycling and Walking “Cool?”: Adolescent Attitudes about Active Travel (Friday Seminar at PSU)

May 24, 2013 12:00 pm - May 24, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Tara Goddard, PhD Student in Urban Studies, PSU
 
Summary: The declining rates of physical activity among children, particularly adolescent girls, are well-documented, yet there has been insufficient research into the attitudes about health behaviors, particularly active travel, of the children themselves. Tara's research explores attitudes about active transportation among children aged 4-17 years and examines how perceived ability, self-efficacy, and sensitivity to certain environments or facilities vary across gender and age of the children. She utilises data from the Family Activity Study, a multi-year longitudinal intervention study in Portland, ORegon, in which 490 children answered surveys regarding their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors about traveling by walking, bicycling, or being in a car.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Webinar: Addressing the Challenges of Transient Populations on Transportation Facilities

May 23, 2013 10:00 am - May 23, 2013 12:00 pm

This webinar will present an in-depth discussion of emerging issues associated with homeless populations that reside on public lands.  As major land owners, transportation agencies have had to address challenges associated with homeless encampments on right-of-way.  With growing public and legal push-back against an enforcement-only approach, new solutions are needed. This module will highlight practical approaches for holistically addressing the challenges posed by transient populations residing on or adjacent to public land and transportation facilities.

 
Webinar and Registration Information:
 
Date:   Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time:   1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 - noon Pacific)
Registration Page:  https://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/webconference/web_conf_learner_reg.aspx?webconfid=26027  
 
Speakers Include:
Sharlene Reed, Community Planner, Office of Human Environment, FHWA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Bruce Bradley, Realty Specialist, Office of Real Estate Services, FHWA Headquarters, Washington DC
Mary Jane Daluge, Realty Specialist, Office of Real Estate Services, FHWA Headquarters, Washington DC
Ellen M. Bassett, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of Urban and Environmental Planning, University of Virginia
Andrée Tremoulet, Ph.D., Research Associate, Center for Urban Studies—CUS Portland State University
 
This event is sponsored by FHWA’s Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty and the Office of Human Environment.
Research funded by OTREC.
 
For more information contact, Sharlene [email protected]  or (202)366-9629.
 
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Making Urban Transport Sustainable: Comparison of Germany and the USA

May 17, 2013 12:00 pm - May 17, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker:Ralph Buehler, Professor, Virginia Tech
 
Summary: Reliance on the automobile for most trips contributes to costly trends like pollution, oil dependence, congestion, and obesity. Germany and the U.S. have among the highest motorization rates in the world. Yet Germans make a four times higher share of trips by foot, bike, and public transport and drive for a 25 percent lower share of trips.
 
This presentation first investigates international trends in daily travel behavior with a focus on Germany and the USA. Next, the presentation examines the transport and land-use policies in Germany over the last 40 years that have encouraged more walking, bicycling, and public transport use. Using a case study of policy changes in the German city of Freiburg, the presentation concludes with policies that are transferable to car-oriented countries around the world.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Integrating Schedule-based Public Transportation Planning Models (Friday Seminar at PSU)

May 10, 2013 12:00 pm - May 10, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Hyunsoo Noh, PhD Candidate, University of Arizona
 
Summary: Public transportation is benefiting from the open-environment information system. Transit schedule information, made available by Google Developers General Transit Feed Specification (GTF), helps passengers choose their preferred transit routes more reasonably. For transportation planners a range of questions emerge including how the behavior of passengers looks and how we model this behavior with transit schedule information, We may also ask: What is the transportation assignment? How do we assign the passengers on this public transportation system? How do passengers choose their routes to arrive at destinations? What if the transit vehicle is congested by passengers? How do we integrate this assignment model with other transportation models such as activity-based model (ABM) and dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) model?
 
This seminar will address these questions using a well-known traffic assignment foundation, Wardrop’s user equilibrium (UE) and some behavioral assumptions. To define route choice behavior of passengers, we will explore important path models on a transit schedule network considering deterministic and stochastic passenger behaviors. With this transit assignment model, we can think about possible integration of other transportation models such as DTA model and ABM in terms of providing a better transportation planning model.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Pedestrian safety and flashing-yellow-arrow traffic signals: a live-interview Webinar

May 7, 2013 10:00 am - May 7, 2013 10:45 am

Agencies across North America are increasingly installing flashing yellow arrows at intersections to allow drivers to turn left after first yielding to oncoming traffic. While studies have shown the effectiveness of flashing yellow arrows, the factors that influence drivers' behavior at these intersections haven't been well studied, particularly the number of pedestrians and oncoming vehicles.

An OTREC study paired researchers David Hurwitz of Oregon State University and Christopher Monsere of Portland State University to look at improving pedestrian safety at intersections with the flashing yellow arrow. We present the results of this study in a new interview show-style Webinar on Tuesday, May 7.

Host Steph Routh, executive director of Oregon Walks (formerly the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition), will interview the researchers on the findings and their implications. She'll also talk with Stacy Shetler, principal traffic engineer with Washington County, Oregon, about the county's experience. Among the research findings:

  • The more pedestrians that are present, the more attention drivers pay;
  • The more oncoming cars, the less attention drivers pay to pedestrians;
  • Four to 7 percent of drivers don't even look at pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Results like these bolster arguments for limiting permissive left turns when pedestrians are present, as Washington County has done. Join us for the free Webinar and ask questions of the researchers and practitioners. Registration is free and can be completed any time at:

https://portlandstate.qualtrics.com//SE/?SID=SV_aWXyIW362feTcpf

The Webinar will run from 10 to 10:45 a.m., Pacific time, including questions and aswers. Participants may ask questions at any point in the program through the UStream chat interface or by emailing [email protected].

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Lessons Learned from the Transportation Buzzword “Livability” (Friday Seminar at PSU)

May 3, 2013 12:00 pm - May 3, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Lisa Aultman-Hall, Professor, University of Vermont
 
Summary: In 2009, the US DOT presented livability principles as the foundation of a new vision and direction for federal transportation policy. In 2010, the hype within the transportation community was at its peak and many were grappling with defining the latest buzzword. Are sustainability and livability the same or different concepts? Is safety part of livability? Who has data on livability and how do we measure it? 
 
A 2010 US DOT UTC TRB conference defined transportation systems that create “livability” as systems that work with land use to give everyone multiple travel choices for meeting their daily mobility needs affordably, safely, conveniently, and efficiently. The concepts embedded in this definition are not new for academics or practitioners in many transportation-related disciplines. But the livability policy effort was intended to represent a major change in how transportation agencies have viewed and managed their transportation programs in the United States.
 
Livability was a particularly short-lived buzzword in the transportation community,practically disappearing early in 2011. This seminar presents numerous hypotheses for this short life. The story of livability, as a broad federal transportation policy endeavor, also dictates some
important lessons for what needs to come next in a comprehensive federal approach to renewing our transportation system. To advance us beyond our current system to a new paradigm of programs that advance sustainable, reliable and equitable mobility, new federal policy (and its associated buzzword) must convincingly address both urban and rural communities.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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April 2013


2013 Oregon Active Transportation Summit

April 24, 2013 7:59 am - April 25, 2013 2:59 pm

The Oregon Active Transportation Summit offers presentations, panels and sessions with active transportation advocates, officials and researchers, including OTREC faculty members.

The event agenda and individual session descriptions are now available.

Highlights of the conference include a keynote speech from OpenPlans executive director Mark Gorton: "Rethinking America's Auto-Oriented Transportation and Land-Use Planning." Oregon state Rep. Shemia Fagan will speak in the morning of Day 2, giving attendees specific tips for effectively talking with legislators. 

Other highlights include breakout session and a networking reception. Conference organizers expect more than 300 attendees. 

Registration includes conference sessions, two breakfasts, one lunch, one afternoon break and an evening networking reception, plus the chance to connect with state legislators and transportation advocates. More information is at the Oregon Active Transportation Summit website.

Oregon DOT Jurisdictionally Blind Safety Program (Friday Seminar at PSU)

April 19, 2013 12:00 pm - April 19, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Douglas Bish, Traffic Engineering Services Unit Manager, ODOT
 
Summary: Over half of fatal and serious injuries on Oregon Roads occur off the state highway system on local roads, city streets, county roads and tribal lands. The Jurisdictionally Blind Safety Progarm is a safety program to address the safety needs on all public roads in Oregon. Only by working collaboratively with local road jurisdictions (cities, counties, MPOs and tribes) can ODOT expect to increase awareness of safety on all roads, promote best practices for infrastructure safety, compliment behavioral safety efforts and focus limited resources to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes in the state of Oregon. This seminar will introduce some of the details of the program.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Alternative Transportation Fuel Standards: Economic Effects and Climate Benefits (Seminar at OSU)

April 19, 2013 3:30 pm - April 19, 2013 5:00 pm

Where:

1001 Kelley Engineering Center, Oregon State University

Speaker:

Madhu Khanna, professor of agricultural and consumer economics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Summary:

Khanna will present a paper that develops an integrated model of the fuel and agricultural sectors to analyze the economic and greenhouse-gas-emission effects of the existing renewable fuel standard (RFS), a proposed national low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) and a carbon-price policy. The conceptual framework shows that these three policies differ in the incentives they create for the consumption of biofuels and fossil fuels and in their effects on food and fuel prices and emissions. The numerical analysis shows that a carbon tax of $30 per ton of CO2 and a 10 percent LCFS have the potential to achieve a larger reduction in global emissions but they lead to a smaller reduction in fuel consumption in the U.S. compared to the RFS. By promoting greater production of first-generation biofuels, the increase in food prices is larger with RFS compared to the LCFS and the carbon tax. All three policies are found to increase U.S. economic surplus compared to a no-biofuel, business-as-usual scenario due to improved terms of trade. Findings quantify the trade-offs between emissions reduction, energy security and domestic economic benefits that are implied by the choice of low-carbon fuel policy.

Four Types of Cyclists: What do we know and how can it help? (Friday Seminar at PSU)

April 26, 2013 12:00 pm - April 26, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Jennifer Dill, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, PSU
 
Summary: Labeling or categorizing cyclists has been occurring for over a century for a variety of purposes. This research aimed to examine a typology developed by the City of Portland that includes four categories: Strong and the Fearless, Enthused and Confident, Interested but Concerned, and No Way No How. Unlike several other typologies, this widely referenced typology is intended to apply to all adults, regardless of their current cycling behavior. Our analysis used a random phone survey (n=908) of adults in the Portland, Oregon, region. This seminar will present the findings of that work, focusing on differences between the four types and a better understanding the market for increasing cycling for transportation. We will examine the role of demographics, such as gender and age, as well as attitudes and perceptions, in predicting behavior.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Healthy Food Accessibility and Food Deserts in Seattle, Washington (Friday Seminar at PSU)

April 12, 2013 12:00 pm - April 12, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Junfeng Jiao, Assistant Professor in Urban Planning, Ball State University
 
Summary: Access to healthy food and the existence of food deserts have become important policy issues in the public health and community planning fields. Food deserts have been defined as populated areas which lack food sources, specifically where residents have little or no access to healthy food. Research has shown that living in food deserts can lead to poor diet control, higher levels of obesity, and other diet-related diseases. Identifying and eliminating food deserts have become a priority issue in national-level food and nutrition policies. However, the process has been hindered by various technique difficulties.
 
This research introduced a new way to measure healthy food access and to identify food deserts. Healthy food access was estimated through Geographic Information System from both physical and economic perspectives. In detail, physical access was calculated by testing whether the residents can travel to a supermarket through a 10-minute walk, bicycle, ride transit, or drive. Economic access was estimated by stratifying supermarkets into low, medium, and high cost and testing whether residents have access to supermarkets corresponding to their income levels. This is an imperative feature in this research as economic accessibility continues to increase in importance for families across the nation. Finally, combining income and access criteria generated multiple ways to identify food deserts. This method was successfully tested in Seattle, WA. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was recently published by the American Journal of Public Health in 2012.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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Webinar: How to select bicycle and pedestrian counting sites

April 9, 2013 11:00 am

Governmental agencies have been and are beginning to allocate funding to non-motorized data collection programs but how do agencies select counting locations?  During this webinar, several suggestions on how to select bicycle and pedestrian counting sites will be discussed.  Research project findings, strategic plan development, and how to implement a site selection process to strategically select the best sites for counting will be included in this webinar.  If you are just starting to think about building a count program or if you have been counting for a number of years, please feel free to participate in this webinar!  Everyone is welcome and your participation will be greatly appreciated.

Speakers: 

  • Krista Nordback, PhD, Portland State University – What can be learned from factoring non-motorized volume data that can influence your continuous count site selection?
  • Shawn Turner, P.E., Texas A&M Transportation Institute – Building non-motorized strategic plans that guide a data collection program’s continuous count site selection process.
  •  Liz Stolz, Chaparral Systems Corporation – Implementing non-motorized strategic plans and selecting bicycle and pedestrian continuous count sites

How to Participate

Talking Traffic Webinar  CONNNECTION LINK: 

http://fhwa.adobeconnect.com/fhwatalkingtraffic/

Login as Guest.

Audio Portion Please Dial:

            877-848-7030      

Passcode: 6217068

Walking and Biking on their Own: Modeling Children’s Independent Travel (Friday Seminar at PSU)

April 5, 2013 12:00 pm - April 5, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Joe Broach, PhD Candidate in Urban Studies, PSU
 
Summary: It is commonly acknowledged that children today are traveling less often by active modes and less often without adult supervision. Potential negative effects of these joint trends may include, for children, a decrease in physical activity level and loss of developmental benefits from independently navigating their neighborhood environment, and, for society as a whole, an increase in vehicle miles traveled and associated negative externalities. This research models the propensity of children aged 6-16 to walk or bike to parks and school without an adult chaperone. A rich set of potential correlates was available from linked household, parent, and child surveys. This analysis extends existing work on children’s active travel in several ways: 1) focus on travel without an adult, 2) inclusion of school and a non-school destinations, 3) separate walk and bike models, 4) consideration of both parent and child attitudes and perceived social norms, 5) explicit inclusion of household rules limiting walking or bicycling.
 
Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.
 
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February 2013


The Future of the MUTCD: OTREC visiting scholar Gene Hawkins (Friday Seminar at PSU)

February 8, 2013 12:00 pm - February 8, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Gene Hawkins, Texas Transportation Institute

Summary: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices on all public streets, highways, bikeways, and private roads open to public traffic. The MUTCD, published by the Federal Highway Administration, aims to provide uniformity in traffic control devices nationwide. Join OTREC visiting scholar Gene Hawkins as he discusses the future of the manual.

Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.

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January 2013


Pedestrians in Regional Travel Demand Forecasting Models: State of the Practice (Friday PSU seminar)

February 1, 2013 12:00 pm - February 1, 2013 1:00 pm

Where: Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Patrick Singleton, Civil and Environmental Engineering master's student, Portland State University

Summary: It has been nearly 25 years since non-motorized modes and non-motorized-specific built environment measures were first included in the regional travel demand models of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Such modeling practices have evolved considerably as data collection and analysis methods improve, decisions-makers demand more policy-responsive tools, and walking and cycling grow in popularity. Many models now explicitly consider the unique characteristics of walking travel, separate from travel by bicycle. As MPOs look to enhance their models’ representations of pedestrian travel, the need to understand current and emerging practice is great.

This project presents a comprehensive review of the practice of representing walking in MPO travel models. A review of model documentation determined that – as of mid-2012 – 63% (30) of the 48 largest MPOs included non-motorized travel in their regional models, while 47% (14) of those also distinguished between walk and bicycle modes. The modeling frameworks, model structures, and variables used for pedestrian and non-motorized regional modeling are described and discussed. A survey of MPO staff members revealed barriers to modeling non-motorized travel, including insufficient travel survey records, but also innovations being implemented, including smaller zones and non-motorized network assignment. Finally, best practices in representing pedestrians in regional travel demand forecasting models are presented and possible future advances are discussed.

Stream the seminar live or watch an archived video, when made available, through the link here.

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TRB Showcase of Portland State University student research, Part 2 (Friday seminar at PSU)

January 18, 2013 12:00 pm - January 18, 2013 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, Jan 18, 2013, Noon to 1 pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Portland State transportation graduate students

Summary:

Join us for our second week showcasing three student researchers fresh from the Transportation Research Board's national conference, where they presented their research:

  • Oliver Smith (USP PhD) - "Peak of the day or the daily grind? Commuting and subjective well-being"
  • Colin Rowan (USP MURP) - "Toward an Age-Friendly Portland: Preparing Portland's Transportation System for Demographic Shifts"
  • Alex Bigazzi (CEE PhD) - "Truck Emissions & Lane Management"

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TRB Showcase of Portland State University student research, Part 1 (Friday seminar at PSU)

January 11, 2013 11:59 am - January 11, 2013 12:59 pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Portland State transportation graduate students

Stream live:

http://www.cts.pdx.edu/seminars/index.php

Summary:

Steve Gehrke (CEE PhD) - Application of Geographic Perturbation Methods to Residential Locations in the Oregon Household Activity Survey: Proof of Concept

Household travel surveys gather disaggregate data that may be used to better inform advanced travel demand models and improve the understanding of how nonmotorized travel is influenced by a household’s surrounding built environment. However, the release of these data is often limited by a confidentiality pledge between the household participant and survey administrator. In an effort to honor this confidentiality pledge and facilitate the dissemination of valuable travel survey data, this research: (i) reviews geographical perturbation methods that seek to protect respondent confidentiality; (ii) outlines a procedure for implementing one promising practice, referred to as the donut masking technique; and (iii) demonstrates a proof of concept for this technique on ten respondents to a household activity travel survey in the Portland metropolitan region.

Katie Bell (CEE MSCE) - Evaluation of Smart Phone Weight-Mile Tax Truck Data for Supporting Freight Modeling, Performance Measures, and Planning

Oregon is one of the few states that currently charge a commercial truck weight-mile tax (WMT). This research serves to evaluate ancillary applications for a system developed by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to simplify WMT collection. The data collection system developed by ODOT –TRUE (Truck Road Use Electronics) –includes a smart phone application with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device and microprocessor. The TRUE data has enormous advantages over GPS data used in previous research due to its level of disaggregation and its potential to differentiate between vehicle and commodity types. This research evaluates the accuracy of the TRUE data and demonstrates the results of its application to develop trip generation rates for a variety of truck types and land use categories. This research also confirms the value of the TRUE data to enhance existing ODOT transportation planning models and performance measures.

Chris Muhs (CEE MSCE) - Evolution of ITE Trip Generation Handbook: Proposal for Collecting Multimodal, Multicontext Establishment-Level Data

This research outlines a new perspective on data collection to inform site-level trip generation studies with amendments to ITE’s Trip Generation Handbook in mind. In this study, a consistent and reliable method for adjusting ITE’s trip generation rates to account for increased non-automobile travel in different urban contexts was developed. The design presented here proposes more emphasis on collecting information on person counts and how those person trips are distributed across various modes, including walking, cycling and transit. This research advocates a move away from the vehicle-based counts to a focus on how new development impacts all transportation system users.

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December 2012


Managed Lanes in Orlando, FL (Special Friday Seminar @ PSU)

December 7, 2012 12:00 pm - December 7, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, December 7, 2012, Noon to 1 pm

Where:

Portland State University, Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab (1900 SW 4th Avenue), Room 315

Who:

Presented by Jack Klodzinski, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise has completed a planning study to forecast the revenue earning potential of tolled special use lanes along Interstate 4 (I-4) in Orlando, Florida. The tolled special use lanes or “Managed Lanes” will be contained within the interior of the I-4 corridor. The Managed Lanes concept has been incorporated into the larger I-4 widening project in Central Florida, which is under development by the Florida Department of Transportation. In addition to Managed Lanes, the larger project will also upgrade the I-4 corridor with improved toll-free lanes and interchanges. These improvements include a complete reconstruction of the I-4 corridor from west of Kirkman Road in South Orlando to east of S.R. 434 in Seminole County.  The presentation will focus on the approach and methodology for estimating traffic and revenue for Express Toll Lanes in an existing limited access corridor.  The core content is the required data, traffic modeling efforts, and how the results are used by the Finance Department to estimate potential revenues. 

Bio:

Jack Klodzinski received his Bachelors’, Master’s and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Central Florida where his focus was on toll road operations.  He is now the Travel Forecast Manager at Florida’s Turnpike for the URS Corporation where his main focus is on traffic forecasting for toll facilities.  He works with a team of modelers to produce toll traffic forecasts used in roadway design, operations, or future revenue estimates. Jack also stays active with UCF as a Graduate Faculty Scholar for the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering.  He is a member of the graduate student’s advisory committee.  In addition, he actively participates in research and review activities through groups such as TRB technical committees.

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November 2012


Modeling and Visualizing Sustainability in the Bay Area (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

November 30, 2012 12:00 pm - November 30, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, November 30, 2012, Noon to 1 pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Paul Waddell, UC Berkeley; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

The San Francisco Bay Area, like other metropolitan regions in California, is in the process of developing regional plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in response to state legislation that sets targets for such reduction, and prescribes that Metropolitan Planning Organizations develop Sustainable Communities Strategies that leverage changes in land use patterns in combination with transportation investments, that will meet those targets.  This talk describes the land use modeling that is being used, in combination with the activity-based transportation model system at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, to analyze alternative combinations of land use policies and transportation policies.  It also will demonstrate visualization technology that has been developed to facilitate community engagement in the process.

Bio:

Paul Waddell is Professor and Chair of the City and Regional Planning Department at the University of California, Berkeley.  He teaches and conducts research on land use and transportation modeling and planning.  He designed and leads the development of the UrbanSim land use modeling platform, now being used in metropolitan planning organizations across the U.S., and in research projects throughout the world.

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Transit Scheduling / Routing Data Applications (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

November 16, 2012 12:00 pm - November 16, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, November 16, 2012, noon to 1pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), room 204

Who:

Presented by Ken Zatarain, TriMet; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

TriMet collects detailed ridership data from automatic passenger counters on buses and trains. In addition, an automatic vehicle location system provides specific information on how well buses and trains adhere to preset schedules. This presentation is an overview of how TriMet uses these data in designing and managing the transit network, ranging from developing regional service policies to making minor schedule adjustments on a bus line.

Bio:

Ken Zatarain is TriMet Director of Service Planning and Scheduling. He has had several other positions at TriMet. Prior to joining TriMet, he worked at the federal and local government levels. Ken has a degree in Regional and City Planning from the University of North Carolina.

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Innovative Use of GPS in Travel Surveys (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

November 9, 2012 11:59 am - November 9, 2012 12:59 pm

When:

Friday, November 9, 2012, Noon to 1pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Cynthia Chen, University of Washington; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

The combination of increasing challenges in administering household travel surveys as well as advances in global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) technologies motivated this project. It tests the feasibility of using a passive travel data collection methodology in a complex urban environment, by developing GIS algorithms to automatically detect travel modes and trip purposes. The study was conducted in New York City where the multi-dimensional challenges include urban canyon effects, an extremely dense and diverse set of land use patterns, and a complex transit network. Our study uses a multi-modal transportation network, a set of rules to achieve both complexity and flexibility for travel mode detection, and develops procedures and models for trip end clustering and trip purpose prediction. The study results are promising, reporting success rates ranging from 60% to 95%, suggesting that in the future, conventional self-reported travel surveys may be supplemented, or even replaced, by passive data collection methods.

Bio:

Cynthia Chen is an associate professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington. She obtained her Ph.D in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California at Davis in 2001. Prior to arriving in the University of Washington, she taught in the City College of New York for six years. She has published in a number of transportation and urban planning journals, including Transportation Research Part A, Part B, Transportation, Environment and Planning A, Urban Studies, and Transport Geography. Her current research interest is to understand human movements in time and space. She focuses on characterizing key characteristics of these movements, identifying regular and irregular patterns, and charting out the lifecycle of these patterns over time. 

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TriMet CAD/AVL System Data (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

November 2, 2012 11:57 am - November 2, 2012 12:57 pm

When:

Friday, November 2, 2012, Noon to 1pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Dave Crout and Steve Callas, TriMet; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

TriMet has used a computer aided dispatch (CAD)/automatic vehicle location (AVL) system to manage bus and rail operations since the late 1990s.  TriMet is currently in the process of updating the CAD/AVL system, and anticipates improvements in bus tracking and performance monitoring.  This presentation will show how TriMet uses data from the system to support intelligent transportation systems (ITS) such as TransitTracker and automatic stop announcements in buses and trains, as well as to analyze transit operations such as on time performance and passenger loads. 

Bio:

Steve Callas is the Manager of Service and Performance Analysis at TriMet in Portland Oregon, where he is responsible for operations performance monitoring and analysis.  This includes analyzing TriMet’s comprehensive automatic vehicle location and automatic passenger counter data archive. Additionally, Steve is involved in various transit operations research projection in conjunction with Portland State University and OTREC.  Steve has been with TriMet for over 15 years.

David is an operations analyst with TriMet.  He is involved in AVL data mining and analysis, safety analysis, automatic stop announcements, transit signal priority, and real-time customer information.  David  has been with TriMet for over 12 years.  David previously served as a Census data analyst at the University of Massachusetts, and as a transportation planner with Snohomish County, Washington.
 

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October 2012


Adjustment Factors for Estimating Miles Traveled by Non-Motorized Traffic (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

October 26, 2012 12:00 pm - October 26, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, October 26, 2012, Noon to 1pm 

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Greg Lindsey (bio below) ; free and open to the public
Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast
 

Abstract: Traffic counts are an important piece of information used by transportation planners; however, while count programs are common for motor vehicles most efforts at counting non-motorized traffic – cyclists and pedestrians – are minimal. Long-term, continuous counts of non-motorized traffic can be used to estimate month of year and day of week adjustment factors that can be used to scale short-duration counts to estimates of annual average daily traffic. Here we present results from continuous counts of non-motorized traffic at 6 locations on off-street trails in Minneapolis, MN using two types of automated counters (active infrared and inductive loop detectors). We found that traffic volumes varied significantly by location, but the month of year and day of week patterns were mostly consistent across locations and mode (i.e., cycling, walking, or mixed mode). We give examples of how this information could be used to extrapolate short-duration counts to estimates of annual average daily traffic as well as Bicycle Miles Traveled (BMT) and Pedestrian Miles Traveled (PMT) for defined lengths of off-street trails. More research is needed to determine if non-motorized traffic patterns (and subsequently our adjustment factors) for off-street trails are comparable to those for on-street non-motorized travel or for other geographic areas.

Bio: Greg Lindsey specializes in environmental planning, policy, and management. His current research involves nonmotorized transportation systems, including bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and studies of relationships between the built environment and active transportation and physical activity. Lindsey earned his doctorate and a master's degree in geography and environmental engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. He also received a master's degree in geography and environmental studies from Northeastern Illinois University. His bachelor's degree is in urban planning and is from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

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Free seminar at PSU: Use of Science and Adaptive Management to Perfect Wildlife Crossings

October 24, 2012 3:59 pm - October 24, 2012 4:49 pm

Portland State University is pleased to welcome Dr. Patricia Cramer, Research Assistant Professor from the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University. Dr. Cramer will deliver a free seminar on Wednesday, October 24th from 4-4:50 p.m. in Cramer Hall 471.

The Use of Science and Adaptive Management to Perfect Wildlife Crossings

Across the globe wildlife crossings are becoming an accepted mitigation to adapt roads for wildlife movement. With over 800 crossings in the U.S., there are efforts to create new wildlife crossings and retrofit existing structures for wildlife in every state. Science plays a critical role in designing wildlife crossings. Research can show how well different bridge, culvert, and fence designs work at passing wildlife safely under the road, and areas that need adaptive management. This talk will give viewers an overview of wildlife crossings in North America from the speaker's National Academies study, and how research in the western U.S. is helping departments of transportation design, place, and retrofit wildlife crossings that allow multiple species to move under and over roads safely. Dr. Cramer will speak about the ongoing and past wildlife and road studies she has conducted in Utah, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and soon Oregon.

The Forest Ecology & Management seminar is a collaborative effort between the PSU Environmental Science and Management department and the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Researchers from PSU, USFS, non-profit organizations, and timber management companies present and discuss their current research.

The seminar will be broadcast live online: http://media.pdx.edu/livestreams/ch01stream.asx.

Subsequently, a link to the archived video will be posted on the Forest Ecology Management Seminar's website.

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Urban Arterials: Linking Traffic, Transit & Air Quality Data & Performance (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

October 19, 2012 11:59 am - October 19, 2012 12:59 pm

When:

Friday, October 19, 2012, Noon to 1 pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

Urban arterials often represent complex venues of transportation operations, co-mingling non-motorized users with transit services and a wide variety of land uses and traffic patterns. This presentation presents results related to the evaluation of a new Adaptive Traffic Control System (SCATS) on Powell Boulevard in southeast Portland. The presentation will discuss challenges and opportunities associated with the evaluation of new technologies and the development of comprehensive urban arterial performance measures.

 
Speaker Bio:
 
Miguel Figliozzi is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University. His diverse research interests include transit and traffic operations, bicycle and pedestrian modes, emissions and air quality modeling, and freight and logistics. He holds a MS from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from the University of Maryland College Park. Figliozzi is a member of the Transportation Research Board Network Modeling Committee, Freight and Logistics, and Intermodal Terminal Design Committees. Papers, reports, and more detailed information available at Figliozzi's webpage: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~maf/
 
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Portland Bike Share (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

October 12, 2012 12:00 pm - October 12, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, October 12, 2012, Noon to 1pm

Where: 

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Steve Hoyt-McBeth, PBOT; free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract:

Portland is planning to launch a bike share system. Bike share is a new form of public transit that is rapidly spreading through the United States. In 2009, bike share operated in two U.S. cities. Today, 20 US cities operate systems with another 15 in the planning stages. In several cities, including Denver, Minneapolis and Washington, DC bike share has demonstrated the ability to bring new people to bicycling while reducing single occupancy vehicle trips. How will bike share work in the nation’s most bike friendly city (doesn’t everybody already have a bike)? What challenges does Portland face, and what opportunities does bike share offer to reach the Portland’s Bike Plan for 2030’s ambitious goals?

Bio:
 
Steve Hoyt-McBeth is a project manager in the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Active Transportation Division. He has worked on bike share at PBOT since 2008. Steve also manages PBOT’s employer and commuter Transportation Demand Management program, SmartTrips Business. He has 15 years experience working with local governments and neighborhoods in Oregon and California on land use, energy and transportation issues. Steve is a graduate of the University of Oregon.
 

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Retrofitting Urban Arterials Into Complete Street (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

October 5, 2012 12:00 pm - October 5, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, October 5, 2012, Noon to 1pm

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by John LaPlante, T.Y. Lin International, Inc. (abstract and bio below); free and open to the public

Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast

Abstract: 

The geometric design of our urban arterials and collector streets can provide more room for nonmotorized travelers, make street crossings easier for pedestrians, and help to control traffic speeds, thus reducing pedestrian, bicycle and automobile crashes. In this seminar Mr. LaPlante will show how this can be done within existing rights-of-way and within tight maintenance and construction budgets, thus making better use of taxpayer dollars. The seminar also will address some of the myths about Complete Streets and how we can begin moving forward in making all our street networks complete.

Bio:

JOHN N. LAPLANTE, PE, PTOE, is currently Director of Traffic Engineering for T.Y.Lin International, working out of their Chicago office. Prior to joining the firm in 1992, Mr. LaPlante had been with the City of Chicago for 30 years in various transportation engineering positions, including Chief City Traffic Engineer and Acting Commissioner of the new Department of Transportation. He has been involved in several national committees (PROWAAC, AASHTO Green Book Technical Committee, NCUTCD Pedestrian Task Force, and the TRB Pedestrian Committee) and was principal author of the AASHTO Pedestrian Guide. He has taught many courses as part of the FHWA Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, National Complete Streets Coalition and the APBP/US Access Board Designing for Pedestrian Accessibility training. In 2010 he received the Theodore M. Matson Memorial Award from ITE for his advancement of the profession through outstanding contributions in the field of traffic engineering. His education includes a BSCE degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MSCE degree at Northwestern University. He is a Fellow of both ITE and ASCE.

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IBPI Short Course: Designing Pedestrian Facilities for Accessibility

Sidewalks, like roadways, should be designed to serve all users. To meet the needs of all sidewalk users, designers and builders need a clear understanding of the applicable standards and requirements, and the wide range of abilities of the users.


This course, developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP), teaches participants how to apply the guidance and policies of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to public rights-of-way. The course will examine range of pedestrian disabilities, how people with disabilities use pedestrian facilities, and how restrictive designs affect mobility and safety.
• Accessibility guidelines and requirements of the ADA
• Characteristics of pedestrians and the pedestrian environment
• Legal requirements and funding opportunities (US DOT and FHWA)
• Obligations to evaluate practices, policies and activities for discrimination and to remove barriers

Participants will learn how to enhance pedestrian mobility, independence and safety through accessible design and the accessible design elements of the pedestrian corridor, including:
• Accessible driveways and curb ramps
• Street crossings, including crosswalks, overpasses, underpasses, medians and islands
• Intersections and roundabouts
• Pedestrian signs and signals, including accessible pedestrian signals
• Temporary facilities and construction site safety

 

When: Thursday, October 4, 2012
Where: Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union
Who: Presented by John N. LaPlante, PE, PTOE
Registration: $295
More information: http://www.ibpi.usp.pdx.edu/courses

About the Instructor:

John N. LaPlante, PE, PTOE, is currently Director of Traffic Engineering for T.Y.Lin International, working out of their Chicago office. Prior to joining the firm in 1992, Mr. LaPlante had been with the City of Chicago for 30 years in various transportation engineering positions, including Chief City Traffic Engineer and Acting Commissioner of the new Department of Transportation. He has been involved in several national committees (PROWAAC, AASHTO Green Book Technical Committee, NCUTCD Pedestrian Task Force, and the TRB Pedestrian Committee) and was principal author of the AASHTO Pedestrian Guide. He has taught many courses as part of the FHWA Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, National Complete Streets Coalition and the APBP / US Access Board’s Designing Pedestrian Facilities for Accessibility. Mr. LaPlante’s commitment to accessibility began with his responsibilities to make the City of Chicago completely accessible up to his recent work on Complete Streets providing universal access to users on all streets as a basic design requirement. His education includes a BSCE degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MSCE degree at Northwestern University. He is a Fellow of both ITE and ASCE.


 

September 2012


Modeling Dependency with Copula: Implications to Engineers and Planners (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

September 28, 2012 12:00 pm - September 28, 2012 1:00 pm

When:

Friday, September 28, 2012, Noon to 1pm 

Where:

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who:

Presented by Haizhong Wang (bio below) ; free and open to the public
Webcast: Watch Archived Webcast
 

Abstract: The modelling of dependence relations between random variables is a typically studied subject in probability theory and statistics. In the recent decade, the concept of copula gained enormous success in finance and economics in the risk management and analysis context. Engineers started investigating the applications of copula in recent years; it has been widely used in Hydrology and climate studies to model rainfall and overspill risk. As a powerful tool to model dependence, copula has been applied to travel behavior modeling and model choice by several researchers. Dr. Wang will share his understanding of copula and its implications to engineers and planners in a more general uncertainty modeling framework. Some of the ongoing research efforts regarding how copula is being applied to transportation network entrance-ramp flow dependency and spatial-temporal travel time reliability study at Oregon State University.

Bio: Dr. Wang recently joined OSU from the Trine University in Angola, Indiana where he worked as assistant professor with the Reiners Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Before joining Trine University, he spent a short time as a research associate with Institute for Multimodal Transportation at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. His experience in the operation, planning, modeling, and simulation of multimodal transportation systems serves as the foundation for his current research and teaching interests.

Dr. Wang’s research interests include the mathematical modeling and simulation of the multimodal transportation system at varying levels (macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic), stochastic modeling and probabilistic predictions, traffic flow theory and optimization, transportation system analysis and planning, emergency management and disaster response. His teaching interests include transportation engineering, transportation system analysis, traffic flow analysis and control, highway engineering, stochastic process and its application to engineering.
 
More information about Dr. Wang can be found at: http://cce.oregonstate.edu/people/faculty/wang.html

 

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2012 Oregon Transportation Summit

September 10, 2012 7:59 am - September 10, 2012 3:59 pm

Agenda, schedule and registration details are available at http://theotrec.org/events/special/OTS

4th Annual Oregon Transportation Summit Archives

The 4th Annual OTS was held at Portland State University of Monday, September 10, 2012. The following information represents the proceedings of the Summit, sharing speakers' presentations when available.

Summit Archives: Plenary Session

The topic of 2012 plenary session was the uncertain future of metropolitan planning organizations. Peter Plumeau of Resource Systems Group presented the lecture and Lane Council of Governments Executive Director Brenda Wilson delivered a prepared response.

Summit Archives: Workshop Sessions

The following sessions were held during the Summit; where the speaker names are links, presentations are available for download (Moderators are indicated by *).

 

Mega, Multi or Metro: How Big Is Your Region?

Can Bike and Car Sharing Save the World?

  • Dan Bower, Portland Bureau of Transportation*
  • Susan Shaheen, U.C. Berkeley
  • Matt Berkow, ALTA Planning + Design
  • Walter Rosenkranz, Car2Go

Effective, Inclusive Planning in Latino Communities

An Arterial Runs Through It

Tracks and Tires: Ingredients for Economic Development

Building Returns on Bike/Ped Investments

Rising Tide: Transportation and Climate Adaptation

Fans of the Spans: The Outlook for Our Bridges

August 2012


Short Course: Comprehensive Bicycle Planning and Design

August 20-24, 2012

Portland State University

The field of bicycle planning is rapidly evolving.  This course will bring you up to speed on the cutting edge in practice and research, offering valuable skills for your professional life. It will cover the fundamentals of bicycle planning and design through an intensive week of interactive classroom and field experience. Instructors will integrate transit access and connections, bridges, trail crossings, and other special features into discussions, while using project examples to highlight practical applications of the principles and techniques discussed.

The cost for this course is $995 ($1075 if bicycle rental is needed) and includes coffee, snacks, lunch, and course materials. Groups of three or more from the same agency, registering at the same time, each receive a discount of $50 off the registration fee.  More information and registration: http://www.ibpi.usp.pdx.edu/courses.php

June 2012


Moving Toward a Sustainable Oregon: The Future of Modeling and Decision Tools (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

June 8, 2012 11:59 am - June 8, 2012 12:59 pm

 

When:
Friday, June 8, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Beth Wemple and Keith Lawton (bios below); free and open to the public

 

 

Abstract: This seminar concludes the eight week exploration of transportation models and decision tools with a look to the future. Oregon is known for its history of forward thinking policies around sustainable transportation, including linking land use and transportation planning at the regional level, investments in transit and non-motorized modes, and statewide legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To aid these transportation planning and policy decisions, Oregon has developed some of the most sophisticated models and analytic tools currently in use in the United States. As Oregon moves forward to address the next set of challenges - energy security, climate change, economic constraints and equity, models will need to provide new information at different spatial and temporal scales to support long range planning - 30 to 50 years out - as well as near term decisions - 1 to 5 years ahead. Beth Wemple, a Portland-based consultant with Cambridge Systematics, will share her view on Oregon's transportation future. Keith Lawton, consultant and former transportation planner at Metro, will respond by discussing the next steps for model development and application needed to support this agenda.

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Short Course: Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Planning

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Portland State University

Nonmotorized transportation planning and engineering has evolved over the last several years, but there are few resources or learning opportunities which cover the current state of the practice and its best practices. This comprehensive, one-day workshop will provide participants with the tools and knowledge to produce pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plans for their communities. The curriculum will draw from the experiences and lessons learned from the bicycle and pedestrian planning processes in Oregon and across the country.

The course content will be supplemented by a detailed Best Practices handbook with relevant references and resources, including a sample plan outline and descriptions of optional plan appendices.

Who should attend? Transportation professionals who are responsible for developing, updating and implementing bicycle and pedestrian master plans at the community or regional level.

The cost for this course is $295 and includes coffee, snacks, lunch, and course materials. Groups of three or more from the same agency, registering at the same time, each receive a discount of $50 off the registration fee.  More information and registration: http://www.ibpi.usp.pdx.edu/courses.php

Goods Movement: Improving Freight Routing Modeling Capabilities (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

June 1, 2012 12:00 pm - June 1, 2012 1:00 pm

Freight RoutingWhen:
Friday, June 1, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Anne Goodchild (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

 

Abstract: The ability to fully understand and accurately characterize freight route choice is one that will support freight modeling frameworks, and regional and state transportation decisions. This ability, when combined with regional and state commodity flow data, can compose an effective statewide freight modeling framework. Typically, transportation network models take a shortest path assumption for truck routing both for strategic and operational routing decisions. The goal of this research was to determining how different subgroups of shippers, carriers, and receivers make route choices, and to understand how these approaches vary across types of routing decisions. We consider route changes of both a spatial and temporal manner. This talk presents the results of a survey of over 800 shippers, carriers, and receivers in Washington State, and recommends a framework for improving the modeling of routing decisions in existing network models.

Speaker Bio: Professor Anne Goodchild has worked and studied in the transportation field for more than 15 years. Her initial experience in management consulting for transportation providers was followed by the completion of a PhD at UC Berkeley and research experience while developing the freight transportation program at the University of Washington. In addition to a BS in mathematics and an MS and PhD in Civil Engineering, Dr. Goodchild completed minors in Economics and Operations Research. This, combined with her experience in consulting, has created a strong interest in the relationship between freight transportation activity, business practice and the economy. This has led her to engage in many projects that are working to integrate business practice or shipper and carrier behavior, into freight transportation models. Dr. Goodchild is chair of the Seattle Freight Advisory Board, and the paper review coordinator for the Freight Transportation Planning and Logistics, and Intermodal Committees of the Transportation Research Board.

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May 2012


Environment: Planning for Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions - GreenSTEP (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

May 25, 2012 12:00 pm - May 25, 2012 1:00 pm

tailpipe emissionsWhen:
Friday, May 25, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Brian Gregor (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

 

Abstract: Climate change may be the most serious and urgent issue facing the transportation sector. Transportation is both a major producer of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is also vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Major reductions in GHG emissions from the transportation sector will be needed in order to avoid the most serious effects of climate change. Travel models can play an important role in evaluating strategies for reducing transportation sector GHG emissions, but prevailing travel models do not address a number of factors that significantly affect GHG emissions. The GreenSTEP model was developed to fill this gap. The model estimates household level vehicle travel, energy consumption, and GHG emissions. GreenSTEP is currently being used to assist the development of ODOT's Statewide Transportation Strategy for reducing GHG emissions and Metro's Climate Smart Communities scenario planning process.

Speaker Bio: Brian Gregor is a senior transportation analyst for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) where for the past 15 years he has worked on a variety of transportation and land use modeling and analysis projects. He is the principal developer of the GreenSTEP and Land Use Scenario DevelopeR (LUSDR) models. He has also worked on the development and application of Oregon's Statewide Integrated Model (SWIM), lead the automation of ODOT's modeling processes using the R programming language, and authored several reports on congestion and commuting in Oregon. Previously, Brian worked as a local land use planner and as an environmental analyst, region planner, and transportation and land use policy specialist at ODOT. In the latter role, he developed ODOT's State Agency Coordination Program and worked with the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) on writing the original Transportation Planning Rules. Brian is a registered professional traffic engineer and has a master's degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Oregon.

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Jarrett Walker Presents “Human Transit” in Eugene and Portland

International transit consultant and author Jarrett Walker (Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives) will be the 2012 Expert in Residence for the University of Oregon's Sustainable Cities Initiative. In partnership with OTREC, Walker will give a series of presentations across several days:

  • Wednesday, May 16, 6:00 to 7:45 p.m. in Eugene at the University of Oregon, Lillis Hall, Room 182. Social Hour and lecture (watch the webcast live)
  • Thursday, May 17, 7:00 p.m. in Portland at Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 338. Public lecture.
  • Friday, May 18, 12:00 p.m. in Portland at Portland State University, Urban Center Distance Learning Annex, Room 204. Public lecture (watch the webcast live or archived)

About the talk: The historic divide between spacial planning and transport planning has caused many crucial insights to remain stuck on one side of the divide. When dealing with public transit, Jarrett Walker argues that planners urgently need a clearer view of transit's fundamentals. These are often lost track of amid the excitement of a particular project, resulting in development where efficient (and therefore abundant) transit is impossible. This talk reviews the much-ignored principles of efficient transit networks, bus or rail, and argues that true "transit-oriented development" must be consist with those principles. These principles yield surprising conclusions both about many New Urbanist projects, and also about the potential of 82nd Avenue and similar "sprawl arterials."

Speaker Bio: Jarrett Walker is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy.  He has been a full-time consultant since 1991 and has led numerous major planning projects in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.  He currently serves as a Principal Consultant with MRCagney based in Australia.  He provides expert advice to clients worldwide

Born in 1962, he grew up in Portland, Oregon during the revolutionary 1970s, the era when Portland first made its decisive commitment to be a city for people rather than cars.  He went on to complete a BA at Pomona College (Claremont, California) and a Ph.D. in theatre arts and humanities at Stanford University.  Passionately interested in an impractical number of fields, he is probably the only person with peer-reviewed publications in both the Journal of Transport Geography and Shakespeare Quarterly.  In addition to Human Transit, he also writes on botany, creative writing, performing arts, and a range of other interests on his personal blog, Creature of the Shade.

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Risk and Uncertainty: All Models Are Wrong But Some Are Useful (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

May 11, 2012 12:00 pm - May 11, 2012 1:00 pm

Risk and UncertaintyWhen:
Friday, May 11, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Rick Donnelly (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

 

Abstract: Models are used for many different purposes. Some seek to impart understanding of the system under study, while others seeks to understand dynamics. Most of the models considered in this course are also used for forecasting likely future levels of demand and its impact upon the built and natural environment. Unlike models of purely physical systems these models attempt to capture the interactions between people and institutions. Social systems are considerably more complex and chaotic. They are shaped by disruptive technologies, changing markets, economic cycles, and cultural influences that a difficult to predict, much less their subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) interaction effects. Uncertainty creeps into forecasting as a result, creating risk that a policy or investment may have unintended consequences, under-perform, or be short-lived. Transportation and land use modelers have typically only weakly accommodated such realities in their forecasts. Policy-makers and investors are increasingly demanding a more explicit accounting of risk and uncertainty in forecasting. This discussion will focus on how this will affect the practice of modeling in the future.

Speaker Bio: Rick Donnelly has over 25 years of experience in the modeling and simulation of transportation systems, from the urban to national level. His current interests include agent-based modeling of freight and logistics, integrated land use-transportation models, and dynamic network modeling. Rick leads the travel modeling and simulation practice at Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international civil and transportation engineering consultancy. He is also a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne, where he earned his doctorate in engineering, and a visiting scholar at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Low Stress Bicycling and Bike Network Connectivity (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

May 4, 2012 11:59 am - May 4, 2012 12:59 pm

When:
Friday, May 4, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Peter Furth (bio below); free and open to the public
Archived Webcast:
 
Abstract: The most fundamental need in a bicycling network is low-stress connectivity, that is, providing routes between people’s origins and destinations that do not require cyclists to use links that exceed their tolerance for traffic stress, and that do not involve an undue level of detour. Evaluating network connectivity therefore requires both a set of criteria for tolerable levels of traffic stress and measures of connectivity appropriate to a bikeway network.
 
We propose criteria by which road segments can be classified into four levels of traffic stress (LTS), corresponding to four levels of traffic tolerance in the population. LTS 1 is suitable for children; LTS 2, based on Dutch bikeway design criteria, represents the traffic stress that most adults will tolerate; LTS 3 and 4 represent greater levels of stress. As a case study, every street in San Jose, California was classified by LTS. Maps in which only lower stress links are displayed reveal a city fractured into low-stress islands separated from one another by barriers that can only be crossed using high stress links.
 
To measure connectivity, two points in the network are said to be connected at a given level of traffic stress if there is a path connecting them that uses only links that do not exceed that level of stress and whose length does not exceed a detour criterion (25% longer than the most direct path). For the network as a whole, demand-weighted connectivity is the fraction of trips in the regional trip table whose origin and destination are connected at a given level of stress. Demand data is disaggregated to the block level because traffic analysis zones (TAZs) are too coarse a geographic unit for evaluating connectivity by bicycle. In San Jose, for work trips up to 6 miles long , demand-weighted connectivity at LTS 2 was foun to be 4.7%, providing a good explanation for the city’s low bicycling share. With a hypothetical slate of improvements totaling 32 miles in length but with strategically placed segments that provide low-stress connectivity across barriers, this measure of connectivity is almost tripled.
 
Speaker Bio: Peter Furth is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Northeastern University, where he does research in transit operations analysis, traffic signal control, and bicycle transportation. He earned his BS, MS, and PhD degrees at MIT and has published more than 50 papers and book chapters. He has taught bicycle facility design in courses and workshops since 2007, including summer courses in the Netherlands introducing American students to Dutch urban planning and bikeway design. His bicycle-related research projects include studying the safety of along-road bike paths in Montreal, mapping existing and potential greenways in the Boston area, network analysis of low-stress bicycle routes in San Jose (CA), and analyzing the operational characteristics of different bike lane configurations. He is the inventor of the Bicycle Priority Lane marking used in Massachusetts and in Minneapolis, and is a contributing author to the Bikeway Design Guide published by the National Association of City Transportation Officials. He developed the bicycle network plan for Brookline, MA, and has participated in the design of many bikeways (bike paths and bike lanes) in the Boston area. He is active with the Transportation Research Board, the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Boston Cyclists Union, the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, and the bicycle advisory committees of Boston and Brookline.


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April 2012


Land Use Models: An Introduction for Non-Modelers (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

April 27, 2012 12:00 pm - April 27, 2012 1:00 pm

 

When:
Friday, April 27, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Liming Wang (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

 

Abstract: This seminar will introduce land use models to non-modelers. It will cover the basic concepts of land use models and evolving approaches of land use modeling. It will examine how these models and the questions their users are being asked to respond to have evolved over the past two decades. In particular, it will discuss an integrated approach with transportation models that are increasingly used to inform land use and transportation planning. The seminar concludes with a discussion of the limitations and new directions of land use modeling research and practice.

Speaker Bio: Liming Wang is an assistant researcher in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. He did his PhD research at the University of Washington, Seattle, on the topic of integrated urban modeling. His current research projects include integration of land use model with activity-based travel model, and visualization techniques to enable public participation in planning process. Besides leading the development of UrbanSim, an open source land use modeling system, since 2009, he has also been involved in the deployment of integrated transportation and land use modeling system in Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco, Honolulu, Paris, and Zurich.

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Integrated Models: What They Are and How They Help (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

April 20, 2012 12:00 pm - April 20, 2012 1:00 pm

 

When:
Friday, April 20, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by John Douglas Hunt (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

 

Abstract: Integrated land use transportation models simulate the behavior of the spatial economic system and the interactions between the transportation system and the rest of the economic system. The essential elements of these models are explicit treatment of space in economic production and consumption behavior, both the space that is the physical areas that contain production processes and the space that separates different production locations and gives rise to the demand for travel and transport. They put travel within an economic context, and thus facilitate simulation of the impacts of transportation policy and planning actions and transportation conditions on the wider economic system. As such, integrated models can be used address complex policy questions that more limited transportation models cannot address, or cannot address well.

This seminar will set out the basic scope and form of integrated models and discusses several of the key advantages they provide for planning. Experiences gained in the practical applications of the Oregon SWIM and Sacramento MEPLAN and PECAS integrated models will be described. These experiences will be used to illustrate the added benefits arising with such models in terms of more efficient land use forecasting, more complete analysis of cumulative and indirect impacts and more holistic consideration of policy in general, more evaluation of economic impacts with greater relevance, and more effective communication among those concerned with transportation and land use decision-making. This will lead to a more general finding that integrated models can contribute usefully in practical contexts by informing actual policy questions and providing measures to help policy-makers make difficult trade-off decisions.

Speaker Bio: Dr JD (‘Doug’) Hunt is a Professor of Transportation Engineering and Planning in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Calgary. He has been at the University of Calgary since 1991. Before that, Doug was a professor at the University of Alberta and he has also worked in industry in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Doug has a BSc from the University of Alberta and a PhD from Cambridge University. At the University of Calgary, Doug teaches courses in transportation, urban and regional systems, modelling and statistical analysis. His research interests concern the human element in transportation and spatial economic systems – focusing particularly on the mathematical modelling and computer-based simulation of these systems and the impact of these systems on the larger economy. A major thrust of his work is the practical application of advanced modelling techniques. He is also active in specialized consulting to governments in the development and application of advanced modelling techniques. Doug enjoys a strong international reputation, having developed the PECAS modelling system, helped develop the MEPLAN modelling system, and worked on transport and/or transport and land use models of London and South-East England, Naples, Barcelona, Madrid, Dublin, Dortmund, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, Detroit, Baltimore, Oregon, Ohio, Sweden, Alsace, Central Chile, Edmonton and Calgary – to name just some. He also spent 4 years as special advisor to British Rail concerning the Channel Tunnel Rail Link patronage forecasting.

Activity & Transportation Models: An Introduction for Non-Modelers (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

April 13, 2012 12:00 pm - April 13, 2012 1:00 pm

TravelWhen:
Friday, April 13, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Ben Stabler (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

Abstract: This seminar will introduce travel models to non-modelers. It will build off the previous seminar, which introduced models in general, and discuss two primary approaches to travel modeling – four-step aggregate models and activity-based disaggregate models. The inputs, basic model methodology, and outputs of each approach will be discussed. An example of each approach will be discussed as well. The goal of the seminar is to introduce key concepts, basic differences between the two approaches, and discuss the benefits and shortcomings of each approach, with a focus on application.

Speaker Bio: Ben Stabler is a supervising planner with Parsons Brinckerhoff who specializes in planning modeling systems development. Ben has worked locally, as well as internationally, on numerous four-step and activity-based travel demand and land use modeling systems and has presented at various conferences, including TRB, the TRB Planning Applications Conference, and the Innovations in Travel Modeling conference. He is a certified GIS Professional and has worked in travel forecasting for Oregon DOT as well as PTV – the makers of VISUM and VISSIM. Ben is a member of the TRB Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems Committee (ABJ30) and is an active member of the Oregon Modeling Users Group.

Sustainable Design and Transportation: Verifiably Measuring the Carbon Benefits

April 12, 2012 12:00 pm - April 12, 2012 1:00 pm

Join us for a presentation by Projjal Dutta, NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s first-ever Director, Sustainability. He tries to reduce MTA’s environmental footprint and quantify carbon benefits that accrue to the region from transit. This unrecognized service, if priced, can generate substantial resources for transit.

When: Thursday, April 12, 2012 from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

Where: Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Parsons Gallery, Level 2

Who: Free and Open to the Public

Sponsored by PSU's College of Urban and Public Affairs and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium

Free Seminar: Livable Streets Where People Live - European Fellowship

April 11, 2012 12:00 pm - April 11, 2012 1:00 pm

Denver Igarta, a planner with the Portland Bureau of Transportation, spent the month of November meeting with planners, advocates, urban designers and engineers in Munich (Germany), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmo (Sweden), on a fellowship sponsored by the German Marshall Fund. His presentation will share lessons on how these cities have structured their street systems to provide for mobility and access while still protecting residential areas from the negative effects of motor vehicle traffic.

When: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

Where: Portland State University, Engineering Building (1930 SW 4th Avenue), Room 315 ("ITS Lab")

Who: Free and Open to the Public

Additional information

Add it to your calendar:

What Are Models? Learning to Love Modeling and the Challenges It Brings (Friday Seminar @ PSU)

April 6, 2012 12:00 pm - April 6, 2012 1:00 pm

What Are Models?When:
Friday, April 6, 2012, Noon to 1pm
Where:
Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204
Who:
Presented by Rick Donnelly (bio below); free and open to the public
Webcast:

 

Abstract: We all use abstractions of reality to help understand the world around us, synthesize knowledge, and to predict the consequences of our actions. These range from ad hoc mental models to highly complex mathematical creations. In this discussion we'll examine the motivations for building formal models, with particular focus on the types of models that will be explored in this course. Several different modeling approaches will be compared, along with the strengths and limitations of each. Some important questions that builders and consumers of models should ask will be covered, as well as ideas for building more useful and informative models. A discussion on how to judge the validity of a model will round out the discussion.

Speaker Bio: Rick Donnelly has over 25 years of experience in the modeling and simulation of transportation systems, from the urban to national level. His current interests include agent-based modeling of freight and logistics, integrated land use-transportation models, and dynamic network modeling. Rick leads the travel modeling and simulation practice at Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international civil and transportation engineering consultancy. He is also a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne, where he earned his doctorate in engineering, and a visiting scholar at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

March 2012


Spring 2012 Transportation Seminar Series: Oregon Modeling Collaborative

April 6, 2012 12:00 pm - June 8, 2012 1:00 pm

OTREC and the Center for Transportation Studies at Portland State University are pleased to present a series of free seminars on transportation modeling. These seminars provide decision makers and others interested in transportation policy a nontechnical overview of transportation models and the role they play in decisions. The series is of particular value to those struggling to understand new scenario planning requirements in greenhouse gas reduction legislation. All seminars run from noon to 1 p.m. Click on the individual seminar title for more information. This seminar series is produced in partnership with the Oregon Modeling Collaborative.
 

#1. What Are Models?
Learning to Love Modeling and the Challenges It Brings

Seminar Date: Friday, April 6
Featured Speaker: Rick Donnelly
Seminar Description: We all use abstractions of reality to help understand the world around us, synthesize knowledge, and to predict the consequences of our actions. This discussion will examine the motivations for building formal models and compare different modeling approaches, along with the strengths and limitations of each. Highlights: important questions that builders and consumers of models should ask, as well as ideas for building more useful and informative models.

 

#2. Activity and Transportation Models
An Introduction to Travel Models for Non-Modelers

Seminar Date Friday, April 13
Featured Speaker:  Ben Stabler
Seminar Description:Building from the previous seminar, which introduced models in general, this seminar will introduce two primary approaches to travel modeling: four-step aggregate models and activity-based disaggregate models. The inputs, basic model methodology, and outputs of each approach will be discussed. An example of each approach will be discussed as well. The goal of the seminar is to introduce key concepts, basic differences between the two approaches, and discuss the benefits and shortcomings of each approach, with a focus on application.
 

#3. Integrated Models
What They Are and How They Help

Seminar Date: Friday, April 20
Featured Speaker: John Douglas Hunt
Seminar Description: Integrated land use transportation models simulate the behavior of the spatial economic system and the interactions between the transportation system and the rest of the economic system. This seminar will describe the basic scope and form of integrated models as well as the key advantages they provide for planning. The seminar will rely on several examples (Oregon SWIM, Sacramento MEPLAN and PECAS) to illustrate how integrated models can both effectively inform policy questions and provide measures to help policy-makers handle difficult trade-off decisions.

#4. Land Use Models
Microsimulation Approach for Integrated Land Use- Transportation Modeling: UrbanSim and Its Application

Seminar Date: Friday, April 27
Featured Speaker: Liming Wang
Seminar Description:  This seminar presents UrbanSim, a dynamic microsimulation approach to land use modeling. Using practical applications in the Puget Sound region and the San Francisco Bay Area, the talk will explain how the model enables a larger range of policy scenario inputs, greater flexibility in examination of modeling outcomes and better representation of heterogeneous agents and path dependence in urban systems. The talk concludes with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the dynamic microsimulation approach for integrated land use-transportation modeling.

#5. Risk and Uncertainty
All Models are Wrong, But Some are Useful

Seminar Date:Friday, May 11
Featured Speakers: Rick Donnelly
Seminar Description: Unlike models of purely physical systems the models discussed in this seminar attempt to capture the interactions between people and institutions. Social systems are considerably more complex and chaotic than physical systems. Uncertainty creeps into forecasting as a result, creating risk that a policy or investment may have unintended consequences, under-perform, or be short-lived. Policy-makers and investors are increasingly demanding a more explicit accounting of risk and uncertainty in forecasting. This discussion will focus on how this will affect the practice of modeling in the future.
 

#6. GreenSTEP
A Strategic Planning Model for Addressing Transportation Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Seminar Date: Friday, May 25
Featured Speakers: Brian Gregor
Seminar Description:Climate change may be the most serious and urgent issue facing the transportation sector. Travel models can play an important role in evaluating strategies for reducing transportation sector GHG emissions, but prevailing travel models do not address a number of factors that significantly affect GHG emissions. The GreenSTEP model, which estimateshousehold level vehicle travel, energy consumption, and GHG emissions, was developed to fill this gap. GreenSTEP is currently being used to assist the development of ODOT's Statewide Transportation Strategy for reducing GHG emissions and Metro's Climate Smart Communities scenario planning process.

#7. Freight
Improving Freight Routing Modeling Capabilities

Seminar Date: Friday, June 1
Featured Speakers: Anne Goodchild
Seminar Description: Typically, transportation network models take a shortest path assumption for truck routing both for strategic and operational routing decisions. The goal of Professor Goodchild's research was to determine how different subgroups of shippers, carriers, and receivers make route choices, and to understand how these approaches vary across types of routing decisions. We consider route changes of both a spatial and temporal manner.This talk presents the results of a survey of over 800 shippers, carriers, and receivers in Washington State, and recommends a framework for improving the modeling of routing decisions in existing network models.

#8. Synthesis
Moving Toward a Sustainable Oregon - The Future of Modeling and Decision Tools

Seminar Date: Friday, June 8
Featured Speakers: Lynn Peterson & Keith Lawton
Seminar Description: This seminar concludes the eight week exploration of transportation models and decision tools with a look to the future. As Oregon moves forward to address the next set of challenges - energy security, climate change, economic constraints and equity, models will need to provide new information at different spatial and temporal scales to support long range planning - 30 to 50 years out - as well as near term decisions - 1 to 5 years ahead. Lynn Peterson, Governor Kitzhaber's Sustainable Communities and Transportation Policy Advisor, will discuss her vision for a sustainable Oregon. Keith Lawton, consultant and former transportation planner at Metro, will respond by discussing the next steps for model development and application needed to support this agenda.

Spring 2012 Transportation Seminar Series: Oregon Modeling Collaborative

Free Training: Amendments to the Transportation Planning Rule & Oregon Highway Plan

March 22, 2012 1:00 pm - March 22, 2012 4:00 pm

OTREC is pleased to host the following training, which is produced cooperative by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

When: Thursday, March 22, 2012, 1-4 p.m.

Where: Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Room 204

Who: Matt Crall, Department of Land Conservation & Development; Michael Rock and Lidwien Rahman, Oregon Department of Transportation

What: An overview and discussion of the amended Transportation Planning Rule (TPR) 0060 and amended Oregon Highway Plan (OHP) Policy 1F (see agenda below for details).

Resources

 

Training Agenda

1:00 - Welcome & Overview

1:10 - Background

1:30 - Transportation Planning Rule Amendments - Matt Crall, DLCD

2:00 - Oregon Highway Plan Amendments - Michael Rock, ODOT

2:30 - Break, Webcast viewers can email questions to [email protected]

2:40 - Questions and Discussion

3:20 - Statewide Wrap-up

3:30 - Perspectives on Implementation in the Portland Metro Region - Lidwien Rahman, ODOT

3:40 - Questions and Discussion Specific to the Portland Metro Region

4:00 - Adjourn

February 2012


TRB Debrief with PSU Students

February 21, 2012 6:00 pm - February 21, 2012 8:00 pm

The Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) at Portland State University (PSU) and the Oregon Transportation Education Consortium (OTREC) would like to invite you and your colleagues to a local Transportation Research Board (TRB) event. This January, PSU students and faculty attended the 2012 TRB Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. More than 40 Portland area professionals, students, and faculty attended the conference and brought back a plethora of transportation topics and highlights to disseminate in Portland.
 
STEP and OTREC would now like to bring the magic of TRB back to Portland and host a night of enchantment, where transportation will be discussed to no end. This is an opportunity for transportation professionals who were unable to attend the event to rewind time for an evening and get the inside scoop on what happened. Students will be on hand with posters to share some past & ongoing research and are eager to speak with practitioners in the Portland area to share about what is happening in transportation at a regional, national, and international scale.
 
This is a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with some up and coming transportation colleagues, learn about the work OTREC and PSU are conducting, and enjoy an evening of socializing.
 
When: Tuesday, February 21
Who: Any and all interested in Transportation!
Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Lucky Lab NW, 1945 NW Quimby Street (Portland)
 
STEP members have also begun to post their profiles online through LinkedIn. View our student's profiles and resumes at the STEP @ PSU LinkedIn Group!

2012 Northwest Transportation Conference

February 7, 2012 8:00 am - February 9, 2012 5:00 pm

The Northwest Transportation Conference, formerly known as the Northwest Roads and Streets Conference, has been held approximately every two years since 1949. The conference has served as a forum for engineers, designers, builders, operators and other transportation officials from Oregon and Washington with attendance ranging from 300 to 500 participants. Conference topics have included all aspects and modes of transportation, from maintenance techniques and design standards to funding and organizational issues. The theme for 2012 is “Transportation and the Economy”. We anticipate that this theme lends itself to a wide range of pressing topics ranging from the economic value of mobility and access provided by an effective transportation system, to the impact of transportation spending as a stimulus.

Special Opportunities at the Conference include:

  • Keynote presentation by Clifford Winston (Brookings Instiution)
  • Luncheon presentation by Oregon DOT Historian, Robert Hadlow, "The Columbia: America's Greatest Highway"
  • Highway Safety Manual Workshop featuring Dr. Karen Dixon (Oregon State University)

For more information, visit http://kiewit.oregonstate.edu/nwtc/index.html

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