News: University of Oregon

NITC researchers release Complete Streets design guide

Posted on October 6, 2014

NITC researchers have created a design manual to aid traffic engineers, transportation planners, elected officials, businesses and community stakeholders in re-envisioning their streets.
 
Traditionally, road design in the U.S. has been based on the simple principle of moving as many cars as possible.
 
The Complete Streets movement, a new way of approaching street design, is gaining ground as planners and engineers work to build road networks that are safer, more livable and can accomodate all modes of transportation.
 
The philosophy behind Complete Streets is that a street, in addition to being a means of reaching destinations, is also a "place" in its own right and should feel comfortable and welcoming for pedestrians and bicyclists.
 
To inform and encourage Complete Street redesigns, principal investigator Marc Schlossberg and co-investigator John Rowell, of the University of Oregon, put together an evidence-based design guide featuring 25 Complete Streets from around the country.

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Tags: active transportation, bicycle, bicycle infrastructure, bicycling, complete streets, design, emissions, livability, marc schlossberg, nitc, research, transit, university of oregon, walking

How does transit move you? Oregon Transportation Summit special focus

Posted on July 22, 2014

Transit supporters offer up a host of arguments for their favorite form of transportation but may struggle to counter a response of “prove it.” This year’s Oregon Transportation Summit could help change that.

Fresh research showing some of the benefits of transit will keep the public transportation track lively and relevant during the sixth annual summit. Morning and afternoon workshops spotlight transit, bookending a luncheon keynote by noted transit planner Jarrett Walker.

The Oregon Transportation Summit takes place Monday, Sept. 15 at Portland State University.

University of Utah researcher Reid Ewing made national and international headlines recently with a study showing the effect of light rail in a busy travel corridor. The study, funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, was the first to document a drop in automobile traffic after the opening of a light-rail line. Ewing presents his research at a morning workshop,  “Why Transit Makes you Feel Good.”

At the same session, Chris Bone of the University of Oregon will present on crowd-sourced evaluations of transit and Steve Callas of TriMet will present Portland State University-developed software to visualize performance data. Catherine Ciarlo of CH2M Hill moderates.

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Tags: arthur nelson, ch2m hill, christopher bone, crowd-sourcing, human transit, jarrett walker, megan gibb, metro, nitc, oregon transportation summit, portal, public transportation, reid ewing, steve callas, transit, transit-oriented development, travel corridors, zgf architects

NITC program awards funding for new round of research, education projects

Posted on July 8, 2014

The executive committee of the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, or NITC, program has selected a third round of research, education, and technology transfer projects for funding. This grant is part of the University Transportation Center (UTC) program funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Research and Technology, and is a partnership between Portland State University, the University of Oregon, the Oregon Institute of Technology, and the University of Utah. The committee chose eight projects, totaling $800,000, under the NITC theme of safe, healthy and sustainable transportation to foster livable communities. 
 
The projects are national in scope and support innovations in priority areas including public transit and active transportation. 
 
Projects selected include:
  • An analysis of the effects of commuter rail on population deconcentration.
  • A look into prioritizing pedestrians at signalized intersections.
  • A study of cyclist-vehicle interaction.
  • An evaluation of an eco-driving intervention.
The eight projects were chosen from among 20 proposals with a total request of over $2 million. 
 
A complete list of projects and principal investigators is below:

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Tags: bicycle infrastructure, complete streets, cycle tracks, e-bikes, green lanes, light rail, national institute for transportation and communities, nitc, otrec, traffic-related pollution, transit, transit equity, transportation safety, university of utah, utah transit authority, walking

Safety thread runs through sixth Oregon Transportation Summit

Posted on July 8, 2014

What is the highest number of deaths and serious injuries we should accept from our transportation system? For transportation agencies who have long sought to reduce traffic fatalities, a movement to eliminate them completely has gained currency.

This year’s Oregon Transportation Summit brings a strong safety theme, including plenary session and morning and afternoon workshops. Registration for the summit officially opens today.

Register or learn more about the summit, which takes place Monday, Sept. 15.

The 2014 Oregon Transportation Summit opens with a plenary session titled “Envisioning Vision Zero.” Vision Zero is the approach, initiated in Sweden, to not accept deaths or serious injuries as a tradeoff for other goals of the road network. In the United States, a national effort called Toward Zero Deaths grew out of these principles.   

Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths has been a leader among state programs, working with partners across jurisdictions and service categories across the state to address roadway deaths and injuries. Sue Groth oversees this effort as the state traffic engineer and director of the Office of Traffic, Safety and Technology for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

OTREC is pleased to have Groth deliver the summit’s plenary address. Groth will give context on Toward Zero Deaths and describe how this philosophy now guides her department. Alongside Minnesota, Oregon has also identified zero transportation deaths as a core objective in its strategic highway safety plan. The Oregon Department of Transportation’s Safety Division Administrator Troy Costales will follow Groth’s presentation with a response focused on Oregon’s efforts.

Biographies for Groth, Costales and other speakers are at the OTS Speaker Biographies Page.

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Tags: jarrett walker, leah treat, minnesota department of transportation, oregon transportation summit, safety, sue groth, toward zero deaths, troy costales, vision zero

Case studies explore TOD and social equity

Posted on June 9, 2014

Historically, large-scale transportation infrastructure projects have had devastating outcomes in communities of color. With twentieth-century urban renewal efforts often came the displacement of underprivileged communities, the loss of low-income neighborhoods and their replacement with affluent housing and freeways.
 
According to new OTREC research from the University of Oregon, transit-oriented development, or TOD, can offer a different trajectory. Rather than displacing residents, TOD has the potential to improve neighborhoods for the benefit of those who live there.
 
OTREC researcher Gerardo Sandoval grew up near MacArthur park, one of the two sites studied, and has witnessed firsthand the neighborhood’s dramatic change. “I think the coolest thing about MacArthur Park is that now it’s considered a national model for TOD. When I was growing up there … nobody saw it like that. It was thought of more as a low-income area,” Sandoval said.
 
The project examined two California neighborhoods: MacArthur Park, in Los Angeles, and Fruitvale, in Oakland. In both neighborhoods, the majority of residents are recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America, many of whom have significantly lower incomes and rely heavily on public transportation.
 
In the last few decades, both sites have seen TOD coincide with neighborhood revitalization, and gained national and international attention. The secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, referred to the MacArthur park TOD as a “model that the rest of the country should be looking to” after touring it in 2013.
 
A TOD is a high-density mixed-use residential and commercial area built around a transit stop or station. TODs are designed so that those who live and work within a quarter to a half mile of the transit stop have easy access to public transit.

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Tags: otrec, public transportation, research, social equity, tod, transit, university of oregon

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