Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Barriers To Biking For Women And Minorities, Amy Lubitow

TREC Project Briefs

The health benefits of bicycling are well understood; numerous studies link increased cycling activity with improved health outcomes. Research suggest that the cycling behavior most likely to generate broad, population-level health benefits is everyday routine cycling—including running errands and taking other short trips. Despite these health benefits and new investment in cycling infrastructure, overall cycling levels in the U.S. lag behind many other nations. Amidst findings of increased ridership, research still finds that women and racial minorities are underrepresented as cyclists in North America.

While quantitative data may reveal estimates of these disparities, little is known about the motivations or …

Evaluating The Distributional Effects Of Regional Transportation Plans And Projects, Kristine Williams, Aaron Golub

TREC Final Reports

Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have long been required to consider the equity implications of their regional transportation plans and processes. Funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, this research aims to provide additional guidance to MPOs on how to evaluate distributional equity in regional plans and projects. The report begins with an overview of federal requirements related to equity in transportation planning. We then synthesize contemporary methods for measuring transportation equity and the distributional effects of plans and projects from a review of the literature and MPO plans and studies. The report concludes with exploratory case studies of …

Transport Planning In Delft, Netherlands, Jan Nederveen

PSU Transportation Seminars

While the Netherlands is known today for the highest bicycling rates in the world, this movement only began in the 1970s. Transportation policy has been one of the critical keys to reducing automobile trips in the Netherlands.

Visiting scholar Jan Nederveen will present on transportation planning in the compact, densely populated city of Delft. Delft has been a city since 1246, and the historic street pattern is still visible today. The city has grown to 100,000 residents and covers an area of 5 square kilometers. Twenty years ago, the council decided to change the transportation philosophy from a car-oriented system …

Webinar: Economic Impacts From Bicycle And Pedestrian Street Improvements, Jenny H. Liu

TREC Webinar Series

As many cities are investing in street improvements to provide better biking and walking experiences, the economic value and impacts of these active transportation facilities remain areas where many practitioners, planners and policy makers are seeking more conclusive evidence. With various modes competing for scarce resources, planners and transportation agencies often struggle with how to justify infrastructure investments for non-motorized modes, particularly when driving is still the predominant mode of transportation in most cities.

In this project we assess property value impacts of Portland’s “Green Loop” signature bike infrastructure concept, illustrating the importance of considering both accessibility and extensiveness of …

A City Club Report On Measure 26-189: City Auditor Charter Amendments, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Urbanism Next: How Technology Is Changing Our City, Nico Larco

PSU Transportation Seminars

Advances in technology such as the advent of autonomous vehicles (AV’s), the rise of E-commerce, and the proliferation of the sharing economy are having profound effects not only on how we live, move, and spend our time in cities, but also increasingly on urban form and development itself. These new technologies are changing the ease of transport, the role of transit, and the places we spend our time. These changes will have profound effects on cities including large shifts in land use, changes in street design, a potential reduction on the need for parking, a shift on where we choose …

Portland Msa Economic & Population Outlook April 2017, Thomas Potiowsky, Portland State University. Northwest Economic Research Center

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

NERC's biannual forecast of employment, income, housing permits, and house prices for the Portland MSA. The April release also includes the annual forecast of population and households.

Two Forecasting Models For Portland, Oregon: Hamilton –Perry Vs Metroscope, Richard Lycan

Institute on Aging Publications

Presentation focuses on population forecasting models and compares the Metroscope Forecasting Model and the Hamilton-Perry Model.

Prevention Of Violent Crime: A Review Of The Literature, Portland State University. Criminology And Criminal Justice Senior Capstone

Criminology and Criminal Justice Senior Capstone Project

During the course of the term, our group was tasked with researching the prevention of violent crime. Our research consisted of examining scholarly articles containing original information regarding the definition and prevalence of violent crime, victims, offenders, modus operandi, prevention strategies and implications for policy and training. Our findings are closely linked to data found in the United States. We began our research with original definitions of the prevention of violent crime contained in the articles. The prevalence of violent crime is discussed, including how measurements were determined. The characteristics of, and factors associated with being a victim of …

Transportation Cost Index: A Comprehensive Performance Measure For Transportation And Land Use Systems And Its Application In Or, Fl, And Ut, Liming Wang, Jenny H. Liu

TREC Final Reports

MAP-21 and state laws are placing increasing emphasis on using comprehensive transportation performance measures that include mobility, safety, economy, livability, equity, and environmental to guide transportation decision-making. One of the toughest challenges keeping DOTs and MPOs from adopting comprehensive measures in the decision process is the lack of performance measures allowing consistent comparison of multimodal performance over time and across geographic areas. This project advances a transportation cost index (TCI) initially proposed by Oregon DOT from a proof-of-concept stage to implementation and operational use at the state, MPO, and community levels. After pilot tests and early adoption in Oregon, we …

Dynamic Assignment Models And Their Application In The Portland Metro Region, Peter G. Bosa

PSU Transportation Seminars

Metro's Research and Modeling Services Program is responsible for the development, maintenance, and application of travel demand models for application in long-range planning efforts in the Portland metropolitan region.

Representation of traffic—both vehicular and transit—plays an integral role in the travel demand modeling process. Complex software is required to assign vehicles and transit users to transportation networks to determine viable options available to travelers, costs associated with those options, and sets of routes by which travelers might navigate their trips.

Metro's current static assignment model has traditionally sufficed for use with Metro's four-step travel demand model. However, static assignments have …

Explaining Unequal Transportation Outcomes In A Gentrifying City: The Example Of Portland, Oregon, Eugenio Arriaga Cordero

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines unequal outcomes of urban transportation policies in the neoliberal era. It focuses on inequalities in the Portland, Oregon metro area between 1994 and 2011 as measured in three key areas: 1) access to public transit; 2) the journey-to-work; and 3) "household-serving" trips. Growing concern over the harmful impacts from an increasing dependence on cars has led planners in the U.S. to encourage a modal shift from private car to public transit, bicycling, and walking. The required policies to make this modal shift possible, however, might inadvertently be benefiting "choice" riders at the cost of transport disadvantaged groups. …

Land Use Mix And Pedestrian Travel Behavior: Advancements In Conceptualization And Measurement, Steven Robert Gehrke

Dissertations and Theses

Smart growth policies have often emphasized the importance of land use mix as an intervention beholding of lasting urban planning and public health benefits. Past transportation-land use research has identified potential efficiency gains achieved by mixed-use neighborhoods and the subsequent shortening of trip lengths; whereas, public health research has accredited increased land use mixing as an effective policy for facilitating greater physical activity. However, despite the celebrated transportation, land use, and health benefits of improved land use mixing and the extent of topical attention, no consensus has been reached regarding the conceptualization and measurement of this key smart growth principle …

Metropolitan Centers Mean Smart Growth, Richard D. Margerum, Rebecca Lewis, Keith Bartholomew

TREC Project Briefs

In this study, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Oregon and the University of Utah examined regional metropolitan center programs and policies in the Salt Lake City and Denver regions. The goal of the study was to examine this topic on two levels. First, to learn how and why local governments have adopted the concepts of metropolitan centers over time and the related supporting and constraining factors. Second, to understand how demographics, land use, and transportation choices have changed over time in the designated centers.

Making Every Mode Count In Washington State, Krista Nordback

TREC Project Briefs

A NITC report by Krista Nordback of Portland State University offers a step toward establishing a performance metric by which statewide progress with respect to bicycling and walking can be evaluated. The Washington State Pedestrian and Bicycle Miles Traveled Project discusses the relative merits of three different methods which can be used to compute bicycle miles traveled (BMT) and pedestrian miles traveled (PMT).

Metropolitan Centers: Evaluating Local Implementation Of Regional Plans And Policies, Richard D. Margerum, Keith Bartholomew, Rebecca Lewis, Robert Parker, Stephen Dobrinich

TREC Final Reports

The Denver and Salt Lake City Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) have embarked upon regional visioning strategies that promote development around higher density, mixed use centers with current or future access to transit. This study examines the programs and policies in the Salt Lake City and Denver regions to examine regional vision influence on local planning and the opportunities and constraints facing centers. The research team analyzed local plans over the past several decades, interviewed planners, and examined demographic, land use and transportation characteristics in select centers across the region. We found that the regional vision had a moderate influence on …

Modeling And Analyzing The Impact Of Advanced Technologies On Livability And Multimodal Transportation Performance Measures In Arterial Corridors: Phase 2, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Chawalit Tipagornwong

TREC Final Reports

Transportation corridors are complex systems. Tradeoffs, particularly in terms of traffic mobility, transit performance, accessibility and pedestrian interactions, are not well understood.When the focus is on motorized vehicle mobility and throughput, high traffic or vehicle speeds are desirable because at high speeds more vehicles can flow per unit of time and roadway section. However, high traffic/vehicles speeds are not desirable for pedestrians who have to cross urban arterials. In particular, pedestrians can be highly vulnerable at unsignalized, marked crosswalks where pedestrians have the right of way but where drivers’ yield rates are significantly lower than at signalized intersections. Pedestrians are …

Destination Portland: Post-Great Recession Migration Trends In The Rose City Region, Jason R. Jurjevich, Greg Schrock, Jihye Kang

Publications, Reports and Presentations

This report explores how individuals decide to move to Portland, why they stay and how the region’s growth challenges might introduce costs that disproportionately burden people of color and young people of lower socioeconomic status.

Estimating Walking And Bicycling At The State Level, Krista Nordback, Mike Sellinger, Taylor Phillips

TREC Final Reports

Estimates of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) drive policy and planning decisions for surface transportation. No similar metric is computed for cycling and walking. What approaches could be used to compute such a metric on the state level? This report discusses three such approaches, identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each, and applies them to Washington State. The first approach employs travel survey data. The second approach is sample-based using pedestrian and bicycle count data. The third approach is an aggregate demand model approach using demographic data combined with count data. Due to data limitations, none of these methods could be …

A Model For Better Crosswalk Safety, Miguel Figliozzi

TREC Project Briefs

NITC researchers from Portland State University developed models to find what factors affected vehicles’ compliance with pedestrian safety laws.

The results suggest that treatments discouraging accelerating toward a crosswalk could help increase pedestrian safety.

Oregon's Medicaid Reform And Transition To Global Budgets Were Associated With Reductions In Expenditures, K. John Mcconnell, Stephanie Renfro, Neal T. Wallace, Deborah J. Cohen, Richard C. Lindrooth, Michael E. Chernew

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 2012 Oregon initiated an ambitious delivery system reform, moving the majority of its Medicaid enrollees into sixteen coordinated care organizations, a type of Medicaid accountable care organization. Using claims data, we assessed measures of access, appropriateness of care, utilization, and expenditures for five service areas (evaluation and management, imaging, procedures, tests, and inpatient facility care), comparing Oregon to the neighboring state of Washington. Overall, the transformation into coordinated care organizations was associated with a 7 percent relative reduction in expenditures across the sum of these services, attributable primarily to reductions in inpatient utilization. The change to coordinated care organizations …

Impact Of Bike Facilities On Residential Property Prices, Wei Shi

PSU Transportation Seminars

As many cities are investing in street improvement or transportation infrastructure upgrade projects to provide better bike access or more complete bike networks, the economic value of bike infrastructure and bike facilities remains an area where many practitioners, planners and policy makers are seeking more conclusive evidence. Using residential property values as indicators of consumer preferences for bicycle infrastructure, this study focuses on advanced bike facilities which represent higher levels of bike priority or bike infrastructure investments that have been shown to be more desirable to a larger portion of the population. Estimating ordinary least squares hedonic pricing models and …

Exploring The Positive Utility Of Travel And Mode Choice, Patrick Allen Singleton

PSU Transportation Seminars

Why do people travel? We traditionally assume traveling is a means to an end, travel demand is derived (from the demand for activities), and travel time is to be minimized. Recently, scholars have questioned these axioms, noting that some people may like to travel, use travel time productively, enjoy the experience of traveling, or travel for non-utilitarian reasons. The idea that travel can provide benefits and may be motivated by factors beyond reaching activity destinations is known as “the positive utility of travel” or PUT.

This study presents a conceptual and empirical look at the positive utility of travel and …

Oregon’S Looming “Tecc” Challenge: The Imminent Rise Of “Total Employer Costs Of Compensation” For Oregon Local Government, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Phil Keisling

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Driven largely by dramatic increases in Oregon Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) costs, Oregon’s local governments face historically unprecedented increases in their “Total Employer Costs of Compensation,” or “TECC costs.” Even with 3% annual growth in general fund revenues under Oregon’s strict, voter‐passed property tax limits, the resulting budget squeeze could force reductions of 10% or more in the number of public employees who provide key public services – from police and fire/emergency medical protection to education, health care, and infrastructure maintenance.

Big Steps Before The Big One: How The Portland Area Can Bounce Back After A Major Earthquake, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Individual Decision Making In Online Public-Participation Transportation Planning, Martin Swobodzinski

PSU Transportation Seminars

The empirical evaluation of complex decision support systems is often limited to the self-reported satisfaction of the systems’ users.

Such an approach is problematic due to the conflation of the user's satisfaction related to the decision support system and the decision making process and its outcomes.

In addition, it bears limitations that are common among most techniques that solicit participant-stated feedback.

In this talk, based on data that was gathered by a web-based participatory system for transportation planning in the Puget Sound region, I present analytical methods for the empirical evaluation of decision support systems based on human-computer interaction. In …

Improving Trip Data For Livable Communities, Kelly Clifton

TREC Project Briefs

NITC researchers work to refine a framework for trip generation that includes people walking, biking and riding transit.

Could E-Bikes Spur A New Wave Of Biking In America?, John Macarthur

TREC Project Briefs

In this NITC study, researchers provided participants with electric bicycles to use for a ten-week trial period and surveyed them about the experience.

Plans And Living Practices For The Green Campus Of Portland State University, Yoon Jung Choi, Minjung Oh, Jihye Kang, Loren Lutzenhiser

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study aims to comprehend Portland State University (PSU)’s green campus strategies, and students’ level of knowledge and living practices relating to green campus. PSU’s sustainable campus plan has been nationally and internationally recognized. A literature review, field investigation, and interviews were conducted to ascertain the PSU green campus strategies. This study also used a survey to understand students’ level of knowledge and practices. The survey results were analyzed by SPSS. Green campus projects at PSU were operated by official organizations and funded according to PSU’s long term plans in 12 multilateral categories: administration, energy, water, climate action, green buildings, …

Evaluation Of An Electric Bike Pilot Project At Three Employment Campuses In Portland, Oregon, John Macarthur, Nicholas Kobel, Jennifer Dill, Zakari Mumuni

TREC Final Reports

Oregon, and Portland in particular, is internationally known for its love for bikes. Not only does the region have some of the highest bike ridership but the Oregon bike manufacturing industry is quickly growing. Oregon’s electric bike (e-bike) market is also growing but little data are available on the potential market and e-bike user behavior and interest. Only a limited amount of research has explored the potential new market segments for e-bikes and the economic, operational, safety, and transportation issues surrounding e-bikes in the United States. This report examines the results of an electric bike (e-bike) pilot project, which took …