Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Driving The Future: Intersection Of Emerging Transportation Technologies And Energy Consumption, Tanmoy Bhowmik

PSU Transportation Seminars

The world of transportation is in a constant state of evolution, with emerging technologies offering greater efficiency and safety in our daily lives. However, these innovations at the same time also have far-reaching impacts on energy sectors. The rise of electric and autonomous vehicles is set to quickly transform the residential energy consumption pattern. A critical question to consider is: “How can we ensure that our energy infrastructure is ready to meet the changing demands”. To adequately prepare for this transformation, this study attempted to gain insight into the future energy pattern under different scenarios.

Oregon Transportation Plan: Innovations In The Exploratory Scenario Planning Approach, Adam Argo, Jonathan Slason

PSU Transportation Seminars

This seminar reviews the recently-adopted Oregon Transportation Plan and the process and innovations that underpinned the analysis to identify a preferred set of investments and actions to support the vision and goals of the plan. The plan used innovative methods for communicating how investment strategies may affect regions or example households across the state. Funding is a key influence on how the plan by identifying the affects of inadequate funding and identifying how investment priorities change if funding increases. The Statewide VisionEval strategic travel model was used to conduct an exploratory scenario planning process that informed the relationships between funding, …

Active Transportation Counts From Existing On-Street Signal And Detection Infrastructure, Sirisha Kothuri

PSU Transportation Seminars

The goal of agencies is to provide a safe and reliable multimodal transportation system that connects people and helps communities and economy thrive. In order to fulfill this mission, it is important to have a robust understanding of the usage of each mode within the system as well as the linkages between modes. Currently there is no systemic accounting of pedestrian traffic across the transportation network, making it difficult to understand systemic crash safety and prioritize projects. Analysts must rely on imperfect proxies such as land use density, race, income, and transit usage in the absence of measured pedestrian traffic …

Webinar: Understanding Connections Between Mobility, Transportation, And Quality Of Life In Refugee Communities In Tucson, Arizona, Orhon Myadar

TREC Webinar Series

While resettlement typically allows millions of forcibly displaced persons to escape from unpredictable and often dangerous conditions of displacement, most refugees experience an array of challenges after resettlement as they integrate into new communities. Many of these challenges are related to their ability to get to and from places that are important to their sense of autonomy and well-being, including sites of education, employment, worship and medical care. In this talk, Dr. Myadar will present some of the key findings of her collaborative research project on mobility-related challenges faced by refugees in Tucson, Arizona after their resettlement. This webinar is …

Trimet & Tod – Opportunities For Growth, Miles Anderson, Fiona Lyon

PSU Transportation Seminars

Staff of the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) will present TriMet's recently published Regional Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) plan, explaining its inception, creation, and delivery. The team will explain how the plan fits within a hierarchy of regional and sub-regional plans and how it delivers transparency to TriMet's TOD program, enabling all stakeholders to participate. Current TOD project examples will be showcased to demonstrate how partnerships can enhance project outcomes and indicate how stakeholders from various backgrounds can influence projects.

Transportation Planning In An Aging Society, Shengxiao (Alex) Li

PSU Transportation Seminars

By 2030, all Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) will be 65 and older in the U.S. However, the understanding of how Baby Boomers travel differently from the previous generations, and the opportunities and challenges of older people's travel, do not keep pace with the increasing number of older people. This presentation starts with an overview of transportation policies for older people and challenges, followed by several empirical studies investigating older people's generational travel differences, vehicle ownership over the life course, and the interaction of technology usage and travel among older people. It concludes with a policy agenda …

The Green New Deal And Transit Investment, Eric Bruun

PSU Transportation Seminars

I have spent much of my professional life advocating for high quality transit infrastructure even if it takes a long time to build. I now believe we must focus on investments that can reduce greenhouse gas generation quickly. I cite some examples of how slowly projects have been built compared to peer nations and explain why.

Webinar: Transportation Resources And Behaviors Among Older Immigrants And Migrants, Rebecca Mauldin, Stephen Mattingly, Rupal Parekh

TREC Webinar Series

This presentation reports findings from a cross-sectional survey of older Vietnamese immigrants in the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX metroplex and members of a Hispanic senior center in Hartford, CT. In addition to providing a description of transportation resources and behavior, we present a method for assessing the geospatial "regular activity spaces" of older adults based on the frequency and locations of routine activities. We also present options for assessing the geospatial burden of providing rides to older adults using "ride-provision activity spaces," which entails the frequency and locations of activities for which rides are given. Finally, we discuss the association of …

Confessions Of A Traffic Engineer: How The Mutcd Impacts Everything, Peter Koonce

PSU Transportation Seminars

Pete Buttigieg, USDOT Secretary of Transportation has described the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) as “notorious”… and for cities, it has been a challenging document to navigate to implement multimodal solutions. This presentation will share upcoming changes to the Manual, ideas for research to inform practice, and ways that cities can interpret data to make positive change in their community.

Webinar: Collecting And Analyzing Pedestrian Behaviors At Intersections Using Lidar Tracking Technologies, Taylor Li, Sirisha Kothuri

TREC Webinar Series

The aim of this research is to investigate pedestrian behavior at signalized intersections using state-of-the-art LIDAR sensing technologies and to use this data, along with vehicular data, to develop a more effective multimodal signal control system. In the presentation, the presenters will describe a novel method of collecting pedestrian crossing behaviors at signalized intersection, discuss the findings and implications of data analytics, and introduce a novel approach to dynamic flashing yellow arrow mechanisms to reduce the conflict between left turn vehicles and crossing pedestrians.

Explore Regional Variation In The Effects Of Built Environment On Driving With High Resolution U.S. Nationwide Data, Liming Wang

PSU Transportation Seminars

There have been numerous studies on the relationship between travel behavior and built environment over the last few decades. Prior studies have mostly focused on producing point estimates of model coefficients and ended up with a wide range of estimates for the built environment elasticity of travel behavior, including household Vehicle Miles Traveled. With few exceptions, previous studies use data from a single region or a small number of regions, and thus are not able to sufficiently investigate the regional variation in built environment elasticity.

On the other hand, a few papers have addressed the heterogeneity of elasticity among different …

The Use And Influence Of Health Indicators In Municipal Transportation Plans​​, Kelly Rodgers

PSU Transportation Seminars

As a social determinant of health, transportation significantly contributes to well-being through several pathways. Researchers and practitioners have called for health indicators as one way to integrate public health concerns into transportation decision-making. However, it is unclear how indicators are used and what their impact is on policy. This case study of five cities explored how health-related indicators are being used in municipal transportation plans, whether they are institutionalized into transportation agency decision-making processes, and what influence they have on administrative decision-making. In addition, this research also explored the conceptual use of indicators as it relates to social learning and …

Webinar: Planning And Development In Gateway Communities, Post Covid, Philip Stoker

TREC Webinar Series

Gateway communities are the small towns outside of national parks, forests, scenic rivers, and ski resorts. This presentation will highlight the housing, transportation, and development challenges that these communities faced in the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic. Our study captured the perspectives of over 200 communities using a questionnaire and case study approach. We present these results and highlight the innovative strategies that these communities are using to address their housing and transportation challenges.

Webinar: Improving Recreational Trail Accessibility With A Volcanic Ash Treatment, Charles Riley, Ashton Greer

TREC Webinar Series

Recreational trails serve as valuable transportation corridors and support the health of users. Wheelchair accessibility of recreational trails depends on a variety of conditions, including slope, cross-slope, and surface characteristics. This project focused on improving the firmness and stability of a 0.2-mile section of trail that was otherwise accessible. The existing trail surface consisted of loose ¼” off-specification aggregate on native soil. A volcanic ash-Portland cement binder, studied in prior research, was batched, distributed, mixed, wetted, and compacted on site to improve the firmness and stability of the surface resulting in a smoother surface with less rolling resistance. The webinar …

Transportation Safety Culture: Where We Are And What It Means, Tara Beth Goddard

PSU Transportation Seminars

Like any healthy professional community, the transportation safety community is not homogenous or without constructive conflict. The increased attention on systems thinking – most commonly known, if not necessarily well understood, under the “Vision Zero” approach – has sparked debate among engineers, planners, academics, public health professionals, advocates, and others about where our attention should be focused to reduce the epidemic of traffic violence. The built environment? Drivers? Engineers and planners? Car culture? What IS car culture? Dr. Goddard brings together her research conducted with colleagues on police crash reporting processes, NHTSA crash investigations, attitudes and effects of the language …