News: Portland State University
Student planning project yields professional results for Beaverton
Portland State University’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program matches students with clients every year to execute professional-level planning projects.
This spring, InSite Planning Group, a team of six MURP students, conducted a detailed corridor study for the city of Beaverton.
Tags: active transportation, livability, portland state university, research, walking
OTREC research helps Washington state track cycling and walking
When it comes to transportation investments, states have a good measure of automobile traffic to inform decisions: vehicle miles traveled. Bicycling and walking don't have a similar measure, leaving more guesswork in planning for those modes.
OTREC research associate Krista Nordback is helping to fix that disparity for Washington state. Working with graduate assistant Michael Sellinger, Nordback has published a research report presenting methods to estimate cycling and walking in the state.
The research is part of a larger effort, which includes Nordback's NITC research project, to create and apply pedestrian-miles-traveled and bicycle-miles-traveled -- PMT and BMT, resepectively -- measures at the state level. In the report, Nordback recommends improvements to Washington's Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project and outlines how PMT and BMT could be estimated.
Washington already leads the nation in its nonmotorized count program, collecting bike and pedestrian counts in more than 30 cities across the state. The statewide focus of Nordback's project sets it apart from similar studies limited to the local or regional level.
The report identifies key needs for programs such as Washington's, including more counts in rural areas and the need to combine short-duration counts with permanent counters. It also found that using broad categories, such as region and urban versus rural, could be useful on a statewide level, despite being too general for local studies.
The report, which covers Phases 1 and 2 of the project, is available for download. More information on Phase 3, currently in progress, is at the NITC project page.
Tags: bicycle counts, bicycle miles traveled, count programs, krista nordback, pedestrian counts, pedestrian miles traveled, washington state dot
Capstone students take on transportation challenges
Tags: bicycle infrastructure, design, livability, portland state university, robert bertini, transit, trimet
U.S. DOT assistant secretary tours Portland
Bicycle and pedestrian safety has emerged as a top priority for U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and the Department of Transportation. With this in mind, the department’s top research official visited Portland State University, home to the U.S. DOT-designated national center for livable communities.
Greg Winfree, the assistant secretary for research and technology, visited Portland State’s transportation research and education center June 13. Center Director Jennifer Dill and researcher Christopher Monsere gave Winfree a tour of the center’s living laboratory: Portland’s active transportation infrastructure.
Winfree, an advocate for improving safety for vulnerable road users, explored the city’s various bicycle safety efforts, including bike boulevards, protected bike lanes, bike boxes, bike-specific signals and signage. He also learned of pedestrian research involving traffic signals, crossings and modeling.
The tour highlighted research projects funded through U.S. DOT’s University Transportation Centers program, including “Lessons from the Green Lane,” “Evaluation of Bike Boxes at Signalized Intersections,” and “Improved Pedestrian Safety at Signalized Intersections Operating the Flashing Yellow Arrow.”
Tags: bike boulevards, bike boxes, e-bikes, greg winfree, office of the assistant secretary for research and technology, pedestrian signals, protected bike lanes, south waterfront, walking
PSU student team finds transit solutions for Salem-Keizer
Portland State University students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program came up with some innovative transit solutions for the Salem-Keizer area, just south of Portland, Ore. in the Willamette Valley.
The Salem-Keizer transit provider, known as Cherriots, requested that a planning group come up with alternative forms of transit that would be a better fit for the study area. MURP students Darwin Moosavi, Brenda Martin, CJ Doxsee, Mike Sellinger, Lauren Wirtis and Matt Berggren took on the challenge as their capstone project.
Tags: livability, portland state university, public transportation, research, transit
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