Urban Studies Commons^™

The E-Bike Potential: Estimating The Effect Of E-Bikes On Person Miles Travelled And Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Michael Mcqueen, John Macarthur, Christopher Cherry

TREC Final Reports

Many cities have goals for reducing automotive VMT in order to reduce tailpipe emissions and to reduce congestion. Conventional cycling is a good solution, though its uptake has slowed in recent years in several cities, despite the implementation of greenways, bikeshare, and bike lines (Anderson and McLeod 2017). Electric bicycles (e-bikes) could be an effective new part of the solution to combat mode shift stagnation. The e-bike is a recently introduced mode of travel that is rapidly gaining in popularity throughout the United States.

The e-bike can offer a cheaper alternative to car travel (Popovich et al. 2014) and can …

How E-Bike Incentive Programs Are Used To Expand The Market, Michael Mcqueen, John Macarthur, Christopher Cherry

TREC Final Reports

The electric bicycle (e-bike) is a low emission mode of transportation that offers communities benefits in the areas of health, planning, time, cost, street safety, congestion, air pollution, noise pollution, and energy security (Blondel, Mispelon, and Ferguson 2011). In a recent study conducted by Portland State University, e-bikes have been found to enable more people to ride a bicycle for longer distances despite physical limitations, difficult terrain, and the presence of cargo (MacArthur et al. 2018). However, overall e-bike adoption in the United States remains limited due in part to high purchase cost (Dill and Rose 2012; Popovich et al. …

How Can Interdisciplinary Teams Leverage Emerging Technologies To Respond To Transportation Infrastructure Needs? A Mixed-Methods Evaluation Of Civil Engineers, Urban Planners, And Social Workers’ Perspectives, Noelle Fields, Courtney Cronley, Kate Hyun, Stephen Mattingly, Vivian J. Miller, Saeed Reza Ramezanpour Nargesi, Sheida Khademi, Shamsun Nahar, Jessica Williams, Erin Roark Murphy, Melinda Kitchens, Vanessa Wattron

TREC Final Reports

This study explored how engineers, planners, and social workers interact around issues of transportation and transportation equity, and identified opportunities for enhanced collaboration and training in anticipation of emerging transportation needs for environmental justice (EJ) populations. This study provided the foundation for future educational research, identify strategies for using two Android apps (Safe Activity and My Amble) developed at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), and identified opportunities for collaborative solutions within the state of the practice. The study assessed the current level of knowledge amongst professionals (engineers, planners, and social workers) about the training needs of the other …

Traffic Signal Consensus Control, Gerardo Lafferriere

TREC Final Reports

We introduce a model for traffic signal management based on network consensus control principles. The underlying principle in a consensus approach is that traffic signal cycles are adjusted in a distributed way so as to achieve desirable ratios of queue lengths throughout the street network. This approach tends to reduce traffic congestion due to queue saturation at any particular city block and it appears less susceptible to congestion due to unexpected traffic loads on the street grid. We developed simulation tools based on the MATLAB computing environment to analyze the use of the mathematical consensus approach to manage the signal …

V2x: Bringing Bikes Into The Mix, Stephen Fickas

TREC Final Reports

This project demonstrates how an inexpensive system (hardware and software) can add new functionality to existing signal controllers, giving bicyclists an efficient way to cross a controlled intersection. The system integrates three components: (1) a Bike Connect box that resides near the signal-controller and is connected to it, (2) an application that runs on a Bike Connect device (currently an iPhone) and requests a green light at the correct approach-distance, and (3) a cloud-based publish/subscribe (pub/sub) component that handles cellular-communication between phone app and box. One stumbling block for the project was a means to obtain reliable GPS data to …

Transferability & Forecasting Of The Pedestrian Index Of The Environment (Pie) For Modeling Applications, Kelly Clifton, Jamie Orrego-Onate, Patrick Allen Singleton, Robert J. Schneider

TREC Final Reports

This project focuses on making our measures, models, and methods more transferable to other locations. Specifically, we re-evaluate, compare and test our pedestrian index of the environment (PIE) measure using data resources more commonly available to planning agencies across the country. Next, we test the results of PIE and its input data in models of pedestrian mode choice for stability of estimation results within a region (intraregional) and between regions (interregional). This research is the next logical step in the MoPeD’s enhancement and is critical to enabling its utility beyond the Portland region. The results of this project show that …

Rethinking Streets For Bikes: An Evidencebased Guidebook, Marc Schlossberg, John Rowell, Roger Lindgren, Dave Amos

TREC Final Reports

This project is a follow up to a successful previous NITC project and subsequent nationally distributed book, called “Rethinking Streets: An Evidence-Based Guide to 25 Street Transformations.” The success of the first book demonstrated a need for easy access to evidence-based transportation information that can be used by practitioners, community members, policymakers, educators, and researchers. This project produced a follow-up guidebook, but with a focus on streets redesigned to accommodate bicycle transportation in ways following current best practices. Whereas the first book purposefully focused on “average” street retrofit projects to communicate the normalcy of such projects around the country, this …

Addressing Changing Demographics In Environmental Justice Analysis, State Of Practice, Aaron Golub, Les Brown, Michael Grant, Nathan Mcneil, Charles Ryerson, Matt Gray, Stephanie Lonsdale, Madison Levy

TREC Final Reports

This report documents how metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), State departments of transportation (DOT), and other transportation agencies are adapting Environmental Justice (EJ) analysis techniques to understand transportation impacts in communities undergoing rapid demographic change. The report also highlights national demographic trends, showing significant change in the size and location of low-income and minority households. These changes are documented in a series of State- and county-level maps demonstrating absolute and percent change in minority populations, low-income populations and limited English proficiency populations between the 1990 – 2010 decennial census periods. Based on the state of practice review, the report also highlights …

Engaging Youth To Increase Their Transportation System Support, Understanding, And Use, Autumn Shafer, Jared Macary

TREC Final Reports

Little is known from research about how to motivate youth to choose non-car mobility, especially specific Portland-area youth. Understanding the current attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of youth in relation to non-car mobility contributes to the sustainability of a long-term transportation system. Transportation system-related beliefs and behaviors of youth are likely to influence their willingness to access and support transportation services as adults. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s riders, bikers, walkers, voters, and transportation planners. Thus, it is important to develop age-appropriate messaging strategies and tactics that promote youth non-car mobility.

This project seeks to build on the sparse national and non-Portland …

Environmental And Equity Scenarios For Alternative Fuel Vehicle Ownership And Use In The Portland Region, John Macarthur, Kelly Clifton, Joseph Broach, Baxter Shandobil

TREC Final Reports

The City of Portland has been looking to understand the mobility profiles and the associated carbon impacts of different communities in the region. In addition, the City is evaluating its electric vehicle strategy, including placement of charging infrastructure based on locations that will have the greatest impact on reducing carbon emissions and encouraging use of electric vehicles (EVs). To help in this effort, the project is looking to answer the following questions: 1) How are carbon impacts from the use of personal vehicles distributed among different neighborhoods in Portland and the Metro region? 2) Do low-income and minority communities have …

Vehicle Sensor Data (Vsd) Based Traffic Control In Connected Automated Vehicle (Cav) Environment, Xianfeng Terry Yang, Zhao Zhang, Zhehao Zhang

TREC Final Reports

Connected automated vehicles (CAVs) are typically equipped with communication devices (e.g., dedicated short range communications (DSRC)) and on-board sensors (e.g., Radar, Lidar, Camera, etc.). Communication devices would enable the exchange of real-time information between vehicles and infrastructures via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) channels. Sensors equipped in vehicles are providing various vehicle sensor data (VSD) such as the CAV’s GPS location, speed and moving direction (trajectory). Existing studies have shown the effectiveness of using CAV trajectories as input in many traffic control models.

However, it can be expected that CAVs and human-driven vehicles (HVs) will co-exist on the transportation network …

Incorporate Emerging Travel Modes In The Regional Strategic Planning Model (Rspm) Tool, Liming Wang, Joseph Broach, Huajie Yang

TREC Final Reports

Performance-based planning helps local and state decision makers to understand the potential impacts of policy decisions, supporting cost-effective investments and policy choices that can help achieve policy goals. In addition, it can enable monitoring of progress and facilitate needed adjustments, help them communicate to the public, and assist them with meeting federal regulations and the intent of MAP21. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) is a performance-based planning tool first developed by Oregon State DOT (as GreenSTEP) and later adapted for use by other states in the form of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emissions Reduction Policy Analysis Tool (EERPAT) …

Segment: Applicability Of An Existing Segmentation Technique To Tdm Social Marketing Campaigns In The United States, Philip L. Winters, Amy Lester, Minh Pham

TREC Final Reports

Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Social marketing is a useful transportation demand management (TDM) planning approach to promote travel-behavior change. The purpose of this study was to explore a consumer market segmentation technique (SEGMENT) successfully used in Europe for its applicability to social marketing campaigns in the United States. Major contributions of this project are the validation of a successful existing segmentation technique for applicability in the United States, which will maximize the impact of TDM social marketing campaigns on …

Framing Livability: A Strategic And Creative Communication Approach To Improving Support For Public Transportation In Oregon, Deboarh Morrison, Autumn Shaffer, Rebecca Lewis, Hannah Lewman

TREC Final Reports

Livability of place is a central theme in developing concepts about transit ridership. In order to develop strategy for a compelling public communication campaign to increase transit ridership, this project frames the connections between livability and transit and offers a set of public campaign examples. A national survey taken of riders provides possible message strategies. With this information, a creative strategy team was tasked with developing a strategy for messaging and developed the Green Rider profile. Recommendations for creative direction and further study are offered.

Understanding The Accessibility, Economic And Social Equity Impacts Of Urban Greenway Infrastructure, Jenny Hsing-I Liu, Wei Shi

TREC Final Reports

“City Greenways” is a concept proposed as a part of Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for a citywide network of park-like pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets crisscrossing the city at roughly three-mile intervals. This research establishes several approaches to measure the transportation network impact of the “City Greenways” and relate bicycle network measures to economic and social equity outcomes. Expanding upon existing literature, we derived three sets of bicycle accessibility measures (BAMs). They are distance-based BAM, destinationbased BAM, and low-stress network-based BAM, which incorporate different components of a comprehensive bicycle network. The distancebased BAM measures accessibility of the active …

Implementing The Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program To Promote Respectful Workplaces In The Construction Trades In Oregon, Maura Kelly, Lindsey Wilkinson

TREC Final Reports

Oregon, like all states across the U.S., has faced challenges in recruiting and retaining a diverse construction workforce. In 2011, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and the Oregon Department of Transportation partnered to fund the BOLI/ODOT Highway Construction Workforce Development Program, which is intended to improve the stability and diversity of the highway construction workforce by promoting recruitment and retention of apprentices. One component of this program is the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program for the construction trades in Oregon, which seeks to reduce job site harassment by training workers to intervene when they observe harassment on the …

Evaluating And Enhancing Public Transit Systems For Operational Efficiency And Access Equity, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Thomas Cova

TREC Final Reports

Assessing the performance of public transit services has long been an important yet challenging issue for transportation agencies and researchers. Transit service performance measurement reflects a very first step towards an efficient and proactive management, where public transit agencies are increasingly pressured to provide high-quality services in spite of constrained resources. However, the performance evaluation of transit services is complicated by an array of quantitative measures available to assess the goals and the diversity in the goals themselves, which usually include improving operational efficiency and providing equitable access. While much previous work has examined public transit services for achieving optimal …

Community-Based Assessment Of Smart Transportation Needs In The City Of Portland, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Final Reports

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Survey Of Oregon Electric Vehicle & Hybrid Owners, John Macarthur, Michael Joseph Harpool, Daniel Scheppke

TREC Final Reports

The market for electric vehicles (EVs) is changing dramatically in the United States. Federal and state policies have been adopted to promote research and development in EV technology and to increase the number of EVs available in order to support increasing rates of EV ownership. The state of Oregon has one of the highest per-capita EV sales markets in the country. However, much is to be done if Oregon is to reach their ambitious goal of complete electrification of the private automobile industry by 2050. The goal of this study is to illuminate some of the current challenges and opportunities …

The Use Of Mt. Mazama Volcanic Ash As Natural Pozzolans For Sustainable Soil And Unpaved Road Improvement, Matthew D. Sleep, Morgan B. Masley

TREC Final Reports

Natural pozzolans can be a replacement for portland cement in many applications. Some natural pozzolans are byproducts of industrial processes. Other natural pozzolans, such as volcanic ash, occur naturally. This study determined the suitability of Mt. Mazama volcanic ash as a natural pozzolan and explored innovative uses of the material for roadway improvement. Requirements of natural pozzolans are specified in ASTM C618 – coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolan for use in concrete. This study concluded that volcanic ash from Mt. Mazama meets chemical requirements of a natural pozzolan. In its unprocessed, natural form, Mt. Mazama volcanic …

Pedestrian Observation And Data Collection Curriculum Guide, Jennifer Dill, Tara Beth Goddard

TREC Final Reports

This guidebook provides a comprehensive set of class exercises suitable for students in courses related to travel behavior, traffic safety, urban planning and design, community health, or civil engineering. Exercises include activities developed through this project as well as an extensive set of educational materials drawn from online resources. The exercises developed as part of this project focus on pedestrians. They include elements of both traditional traffic counts and behavioral components, the latter of which are often lacking from current data collections efforts. By encouraging students to consider behavioral interactions of roadway users, these exercises can provide students with field …

Improved Safety And Efficiency Of Protected/Permitted Right Turns In Oregon, David Hurwitz, Christopher M. Monsere, Sirisha Kothuri, Hisham Jashami, Kamilah Buker, Andrew Kading

TREC Final Reports

This research aimed to develop an understanding of the safety and operational implications of using the flashing yellow arrow (FYA) in permitted and protected/permitted right turn (PPRT) operations to maximize safety and efficiency. This report includes a review of more than 50 scientific and technical articles on the selection of right turn phasing alternatives and a review of Oregon crash data at intersections with exclusive right-turning lanes from 2011-2013. The study had three phases: 1) a web-based survey, 2) a microsimulation model, and 3) and a driving simulator study. The survey measured Oregon driver’s comprehension of right-turn signal display. Analysis …

Project Phenom: A Smart Bike Project, Stephen Fickas

TREC Final Reports

This project introduces students to hands-on, experience-building, smart-transportation hardware and software. After completing the project, students will gain practical experience with integrating a set of inexpensive, commercial computer components to deliver a ready-to-install system that can extend the transportation grid of a city. They will also learn how to program the system to give bike riders and pedestrians in their community new power. Specifically, the system they build can give bicyclists and pedestrians a virtual push-button, allowing them to place a call for a green light prior to reaching an intersection, thus giving them the actual green light when they …

Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts With Alternate Signal Control Strategies, Sirisha Kothuri, Andrew Kading, Andrew Schrope, Kelly White, Edward Smaglik, Chris Aguilar, William Gil

TREC Final Reports

Over the last decade there has been increased interest in promoting active and sustainable transportation modes such as bicycling and walking especially in urban areas, as a means to alleviate congestion, lower emission levels and improve personal health. In urban areas, intersections are locations where a variety of modes converge, thus increasing the propensity for conflicts. Many bicycle-vehicle crashes occur at intersections. A common crash type involving bicycles at intersections is the “right-hook” where a right-turning vehicle collides with a through bicyclist. Intersections are also the source of increased stress for many bicyclists where the interactions with cars are more …

Overcoming Barriers For The Wide-Scale Adoption Of Standardized Real-Time Transit Information, Sean J. Barbeau

TREC Final Reports

In the last few years, a real-time counterpart to GTFS, GTFS-realtime [10], has begun to emerge, with agencies sharing their real-time data in this format. Previously, real-time transit information had only been shared in proprietary formats specific to each vendor or agency. GTFS-realtime offers the opportunity for application developers to create a mobile app that can function across a large number of cities and agencies, and for practitioners and researchers to be able to easily study and compare actual system performance across different transit systems using the same tools, without the overhead of manually transforming data into a consistent format. …

The Contribution Of Transportation And Land Use To Citizen Perceptions Of Livability In Oregon Mpos, Rebecca Lewis, Robert Parker

TREC Final Reports

What is livability? How does the built environment influence resident perceptions of livability? Although livability is a broadly used term and a key goal in land use and transportation plans at the state level, it is unclear whether residents think their neighborhoods are livable and what contributes to their perception of livability. The purpose of this project was to understand how Oregonians, in neighborhoods of varying densities and within Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), perceive livability at the nexus of transportation and land use. We sought to understand how residents define and perceive livability in three different MPOs in the state: …

Tools And Techniques For Teaching Collaborative Regional Planning And Enhancing Livability And Sustainable Transportation In Gateway And Natural Amenity Regions, Danya Rumore, Divya Chandrasekhar, Sarah Hinnars

TREC Final Reports

Communities throughout the nation face a variety of interconnected transportation, livability and sustainability challenges that can only be effectively addressed through regional planning collaboration. These challenges are particularly pressing in gateway and natural amenity region (GNAR) communities throughout the western United States. This project engaged graduate students in developing curricular materials to teach planning students, professional planners and community members (1) the core concepts and skills of regional collaborative transportation and land use planning and (2) about the unique transportation and planning-related challenges and opportunities in GNAR communities. It did so through an applied graduate-level studio course taught in fall …

A North American Survey Of Electric Bicycle Owners, John Macarthur, Michael Harpool, Daniel Scheppke, Christopher Cherry

TREC Final Reports

Electric bicycle (e-bike) use is a rising phenomenon in North America as a growing number of manufacturers produce a variety of bicycles which can accommodate the needs of diverse populations. With the growth of the e-bike industry, e-bike users are an increasingly integral part of both the transportation network and recreational trail system. However, little research has been conducted on e-bikes within North America, especially on the individuals who have purchased e-bikes. The first-known U.S. e-bike owner survey was conducted by Portland State University in 2013. The 2013 survey aimed to understand whether e-bikes have the capacity to reduce barriers …

Development Of Rdsetgo: A Rapidly Deployable Structural Evaluation Toolkit For Global Observation, Charles Riley

TREC Final Reports

The most expensive and critical links in the nation’s transportation network are its bridges. Historical and contemporary bridge failures have highlighted our reliance on these structures. While the nation’s bridge management system is robust and well administered, the tools needed to evaluate individual bridges to determine their condition, whether for asset management or in response to a significant loading event such as the imminent Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, are currently highly specialized. The goal of this study was to develop a cost-effective, accurate, and easily deployed evaluation tool using widely available mobile technology, specifically iPods, to …

How Do Stressed Workers Make Travel Mode Choices That Are Good For Their Health, Safety, And Productivity?, Liu-Qin Yang, Brad Wipfli, Lee Cyr, Kristina Marie Currans, Liming Wang

TREC Final Reports

It is well recognized in transportation and psychology research that commuting stress has consequences for commuters' travel safety, home environment, and work performance. Little research has addressed questions involving the possible interdependence between work stress, family stress, and commuting stress: Do workers having many demands from work and family life get more stressed out from a stressful commute? Or do stressed workers try to cope with work and non-work stress by choosing more relaxing travel modes?

This proposal integrates the perspectives from transportation, psychology, and health science by focusing on the relations between commuting stress, commuting mode choice, and consequences …