Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Visual Exploration Of Utah Trajectory Data And Their Applications In Transportation, Seth Miller, Zachary Vander Laan, Yinhu Wang, Nikola Markovic

TREC Final Reports

Transportation agencies have an opportunity to leverage massive GPS trajectory data to support their analyses and enhance their decision making. However, these data are typically purchased from vendors, which means that transportation agencies must understand their benefits before they decide to invest in data acquisition. To help transportation agencies better understand the tremendous value of trajectory data, the PI of the project acquired Utah GPS trajectory data from one of the leading GPS data providers and conducted visual analyses demonstrating applications of trajectory data in various areas of transportation. The analyses focused on (a) evaluating the data itself by exploring …

The Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project, Fiona Cundy, Patrick Sweeney

PSU Transportation Seminars

The Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project is an expansion of the MAX light rail system into Southwest Portland, Tigard and Tualatin. Not only will the project add 11 miles of light rail track and 13 stations to the system, it also includes new bicycle facilities, sidewalks, safer crossings, improvements to local bus service, and significant upgrades to stormwater treatment infrastructure. As a cooperative effort between regional partners, the project is seen as a catalyst to help realize broader shared goals of fostering equitable communities, ensuring healthy environments, and providing robust mobility options for all modes. Currently in the planning and …

E-Grocery Home Delivery And The Freight & Travel Demands Of Multifamily Dwellings, Katherine Keeling, Gabby Abou-Zeid

PSU Transportation Seminars

Double Feature: E-Grocery Home Delivery and the Freight & Travel Demands of Multifamily Dwellings

E-Grocery Home Delivery Impacts on Food Access and Equity

The adoption of e-grocery home delivery (HD) has the potential to change social norms of acquiring household foods and necessities. In light of recent interest in food deserts, a case study of Portland, OR reviews the new elements of inclusion, exclusion, and value created by the service of four major e-grocery businesses: Shipt, Instacart, Walmart, and Amazon Prime Now. These e-grocers are reviewed in terms of service areas, pricing, and inventory choice, as these are key factors …

Webinar: New Travel Demand Modeling For Our Evolving Mobility Landscape, Reid Ewing, Sadegh Sabouri

TREC Webinar Series

Conventional four-step travel demand models are used by nearly all metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state departments of transportation, and local planning agencies, as the basis for long-range transportation planning in the United States. A flaw of the four-step model is its relative insensitivity to the so-called D variables. The D variables are characteristics of the built environment that are known to affect travel behavior. The Ds are development density, land use diversity, street network design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit. In this seminar, we will explain how we developed a vehicle ownership model (car shedding model), an intrazonal travel …

Promoting Environmental Justice Populations’ Access To Opportunities With Suburban Boomtowns: An Interdisciplinary Mixed-Methods Approach To Addressing Infrastructure Needs, Jandel Crutchfield, Courtney Cronley, Kate Hyun, Erin Findley, Mehrdad Arabi

TREC Final Reports

This study used a community-engaged interdisciplinary approach to assess the gaps between economic growth and transportation infrastructure development, and the impact of potential gaps on access to opportunities for environmental justice populations within North Central Texas, where population growth has increased over 100% since 2000. The interdisciplinary team, comprised of social work and civil engineering researchers, in partnership with the regional homeless coalition, measured residents’ perspectives of the economic growth in the area over the past decade, the extent to which transportation infrastructure has matched the economic growth, and the implications for access to affordable quality housing, employment, quality public …

When Growth Outpaces Infrastructure: Access To Opportunities In Suburban Boomtowns, Jandel Crutchfield, Courtney Cronley, Kate Hyun

TREC Project Briefs

In the last twenty years, the population increased over 100% in Collin County, Texas. The county is projected to have over 2.4 million residents by 2050 -- more than three times its population in 2010. When enough people flock to an area to call it a boomtown, the population tends to grow much faster than the infrastructure to support it. Where does that leave mobility options for residents? Researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington’s (UTA) School of Social Work and College of Engineering partnered with the Collin County Homeless Coalition (CCHC) to investigate gaps in transportation services and …

Harmonizing Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation In Transportation And Land-Use Planning In California Cities, Serena E. Alexander, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Ashley M. Hooper, Michael R. Boswell

Mineta Transportation Institute

Abstract: Recent extreme weather events in California—wildfires, drought, and flooding—make abundantly clear the need to plan effective responses to both the causes and the consequences of climate change. A central challenge for climate planning efforts has been identifying transportation and land-use (TLU) strategies that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions (“mitigation”) and adapt communities so that they will be less affected by the adverse impacts of climate change (“adaptation”). Sets of policies that collectively address both mitigation and adaptation are known as “integrated actions.” This study explores municipal climate planning in California to determine whether cities incorporate integrated actions into their …

Webinar: Assessing The Impacts Of New Mobility On Cities, Rebecca Steckler, Rebecca Lewis

TREC Webinar Series

Autonomous vehicles (AVs), e-commerce and the sharing economy are rapidly changing land use and transportation in cities. City leaders and professional planners are wondering how these technologies will change how they plan and operate cities. For the past year, the University of Oregon’s Urbanism Next Center and Sustainable Year Program focused staff and students on helping the cities of Gresham and Eugene better understand the potential impacts of a wide-range of topics and study a variety of potential responses to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities. These topics include issues related to safety, social equity, active transportation, …

Emerging Technologies In Mid-Size Cities: Managing New Mobility, Rebecca Steckler, Rebecca Lewis

TREC Project Briefs

This project was led by Becky Steckler and Rebecca Lewis of the University of Oregon. Research was done by eight University of Oregon classes, with participation by 147 students in the 2018/2019 school year, under the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) and Urbanism Next.

Emerging Technologies And Cities: Assessing The Impacts Of New Mobility On Cities, Rebecca Lewis, Rebecca Steckler

TREC Final Reports

Advances in emerging technologies – such as autonomous vehicles (AVs), e-commerce, and the sharing economy – are having profound effects not only on how we live, move, and spend our time in cities, but also on urban form and development itself. These new technologies are changing how people and goods move around a city and are beginning to have substantial effects on land use, street design, parking, and housing. These changes will have significant implications for city governance, revenues, and budgets.

In partnership with the cities of Gresham and Eugene (the Cities), this project assessed the challenges and opportunities presented …

The Role Of Geospatial Information And Effective Partnerships In The Implementation Of The International Agenda For Sustainable Development, Etta Delores Jackson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon (2014), repeated the core promise in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development, in which the General Assembly called for an approach guaranteeing meaningful participation of everyone in development and the fair distribution of the benefits of that development. To this end, partnerships are central and can lead to the dignity of the citizens involved as they participate in the development of their own communities. This dissertation research conducted in Manyatta A and B in the Port City of Kisumu, Kenya sought to do just that. The purpose of this study …

More Than A Century After Problem Emerged, Manhole Explosions Still Injuring Dozens In New York City, Gaspard Le Dem, Gabriel Sandoval

Capstones

Since the early days of electrification, New York City has been rattled by manhole explosions –– underground blasts that injure residents, damage buildings, force evacuations, cause power outages and traffic disruptions.

Consolidated Edison, the city's largest electric provider, has for decades blamed manhole issues on bad weather and road salt that erodes underground wires. But some experts and former utility workers say lack of maintenance is at the root of the problem.

Meanwhile, city and state officials have failed to rein in the problem through weak laws and loose oversight. As a result, unsuspecting drivers and pedestrians continue to be …

Webinar: Letting Bike Riders Catch The Green Wave, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Webinar Series

The "Fast Track" project at the University of Oregon focuses on a mode of transportation that is sometimes left out of vehicle-to-infrastructure, or V2I, conversations: Bicycling. NITC researchers developed an app based on a new technology being integrated into modern cars: GLOSA, or Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory. GLOSA allows motorists to set their speed along corridors to maximize their chances of catching a "green wave" so they won't have to stop at red lights.

This project demonstrates how GLOSA can be used by bicyclists in the same way it is used by motorists, with a test site on a …

Key Enhancements To The Wfrc/Mag Four-Step Travel Demand Model, Reid Ewing, Sadegh Sabouri, Keunhyun Park, Torrey Lyons, Guang Tian

TREC Final Reports

In a National Transit Institute course on “Coordinating Land Use and Transportation,” co-taught by Robert Cervero, Uri Avin, and the PI on this project, the analytic tools session began with a hypothetical: assume that all households, jobs, and other trip generators are concentrated in a walkable village rather than segregated by use and spread across a traffic analysis zone in the standard suburban fashion. The instructor then asks: How would the outputs of conventional four-step travel demand models differ between these two future land use scenarios. The answer, to most participants’ surprise, was “Not at all.” Conventional four-step travel demand …

Biking Safely Through The Intersection: Guidance For Protected Bike Lanes, Christopher M. Monsere, Nathan Mcneil

TREC Project Briefs

Protected bike lanes are becoming increasingly common around the United States, yet there is little guidance for how to extend the protected lanes through one of their most dangerous links: the intersection. Lead by Chris Monsere of Portland State University in collaboration with Toole Design Group, the latest report from the National Institute of Transportation and Communities (NITC) offers contextual guidance for designing intersections that are comfortable for cyclists.

New Travel Demand Modeling For Our Evolving Mobility Landscape, Reid Ewing

TREC Project Briefs

Conventional four-step travel demand modeling is overdue for a major update. The latest NITC report from University of Utah offers planners a better predictive accuracy through an improved model, allowing for much greater sensitivity to new variables that affect travel behavior. Specifically, it accounts for varying rates of vehicle ownership, intrazonal travel, and multimodal mode choices. Used by nearly all metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state departments of transportation, and local planning agencies in the United States, the importance of travel demand modeling for project selection cannot be overstated: They are the basis for forecasting future travel patterns and developing long-range …

Building Healthy Communities Through Seattle's Growth Policy, Dongho Chang

PSU Transportation Seminars

Seattle is experiencing transformational changes with record-breaking population growth among large scale urban renewal and redevelopment. These changes are occurring in a constrained transportation system that is being reconfigured to meet the mobility needs of vibrant and thriving community. Learn about the policies that provide the roadmap for managing City’s growth, plans that guide where transportation investments are made, and how Seattle will reach the safety goals of Vision Zero.

From Confrontation To Partnership: City Regulation Of Micromobility, William Henderson

PSU Transportation Seminars

It has been more than two years since shared scooters first appeared in Santa Monica, California and more than four years since the first dockless bikeshare bikes appeared in China. As shared micromobility has experimented in its deployment and operations across the globe, cities have also been experimenting with ways to regulate and manage this phenomenon in a way that best achieves public outcomes. But how do we best protect individual rights' while still protecting the right-of-way? This seminar will discuss experiences from cities with micromobility programs and considerations for agency staff and elected officials when launching and overseeing a …

Economic And Development Benefits Of Fixed Route Transit Through Denser Housing: A National Assessment, Arthur C. Nelson, Robert Hibberd

TREC Project Briefs

Building upon seven years of research, NITC investigators used economic analysis to determine development outcomes and land use planning implications of different fixed route transit systems (FRT). They have created, analyzed, and shared a nationwide data repository that explores links between transit station proximity and real estate rents, jobs, people, and housing. Earlier research revealed important differences in development outcomes of FRT’s during the 2000’s, but the significantly expanded data repository offers a more representative look at development outcomes after the Great Recession and with 22 new FRT systems added.

The main takeaway from this expanded analysis? Only 5% of …

Data From: Updating And Expanding Lrt/Brt/Sct/Crt Data And Analysis, Robert Hibberd, Arthur C. Nelson, Kristina M. Currans

TREC Datasets and Databases

This data supports the LRT/BRT/SCT/CRT Development Outcomes FINAL PHASE.

The FINAL PHASE will allow us to use factor/cluster analysis to create typologies of station areas to assess the extent to which types of stations (as opposed to transit systems as a whole) make a difference in economic development (based on LEHD data), and people (census data) during the periods before, during and after the Great Recession as appropriate for each system and mode. It will also allow us to refine hedonic regression analysis.

The Link Between Transit Station Proximity And Real Estate Rents, Jobs, People And Housing With Transit And Land Use Planning Implications, Arthur C. Nelson, Robert Hibberd

TREC Final Reports

This report updates and expands prior research in the genre of research that has used economic base analysis (especially shiftshare) and CoStar commercial rent data to estimate the development outcomes to transit. The study period for prior economic base analysis was 2002-2011and census data for 2000 and 2010, as well as CoStar data for 2013. Prior analysis compared development, demographic and housing outcomes associated with those transit systems during the period before the Great Recession (2000 through 2007) and during recession into recovery (2008 through 2011). Though NITC researchers found important differences in outcomes between the study periods of 2000-2007 …

Next Steps For Portland’S Neighborhood Greenways, Scott Cohen

PSU Transportation Seminars

Portland's neighborhood greenways are a key component of the city's transportation system and future. Join PBOT's new neighborhood greenway coordinator to learn how this facility type developed, near-term plans for improvements, and what the future holds for these unique bikeways.

Participants will gain a better understanding of:

• The history of Portland's neighborhood greenways
• PBOT's evaluation process for the neighborhood greenway system
• Where the system is thriving and where PBOT sees deficiencies
• How PBOT plans to address the system's development over the next three to five years

Walking Research And Opportunities From The National Cancer Institute, David Berrigan

PSU Transportation Seminars

Lack of physical activity is well established as a modifiable risk factor for cancer at multiple sites. Because walking (and rolling) are among the most common forms of physical activity in the United States, the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences of the US National Cancer Institute has supported a range of data resources, methods research and development and funding opportunities related to physical activity and cancer control across the entire cancer control continuum. In this seminar, Dr. Berrigan will share about emerging results from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey Walking and Perceptions of the Walking Environment Module, …

The Safe System Approach: Considerations For Developing A Multi-Layered System, Offer Grembek

PSU Transportation Seminars

While the overarching objective of the transportation system is to provide mobility, it should be developed and operated under the framework of a safe system with the aspirational goal to establish a system on which no road user can be severely or fatally injured. To accomplish such a safe system, it is necessary to effectively harness all the core protective opportunities provided by the system. This includes the street design and operations, user behavior, vehicle design, protection systems, and EMS. The common thread across these layers is speed. This is directly driven by the quadratic relationship between velocity and kinetic …

Webinar: Contextual Guidance At Intersections For Protected Bicycle Lanes, Christopher Monsere, Nathan Mcneil

TREC Webinar Series

Separated bike lanes have become increasingly common around the United States as cities seek to attract the new riders, including people who want to ride but limit their riding because they do not feel comfortable riding with motor vehicle traffic. Planners and engineers are working to identify contextually appropriate, safe, and comfortable designs for intersection locations, where bicyclist paths cross the paths of turning vehicles as well as cross-traffic. This research employed a combination of user surveys and simulations to anticipate expected bicyclist and turning vehicle interactions and bicyclist comfort based on design type and volumes. Findings examine which types …

Transforming An Urban 'Burb: Transportation Innovations In Vancouver, Washington, Anna Dearman

PSU Transportation Seminars

From Complete Streets policy implementation to stronger community engagement, bus rapid transit expansion to waterfront redevelopment—and so much more!—Vancouver, Washington, is on the move. Directly across the river from Portland, Oregon, the City of Vancouver serves as the southern gateway to Washington State; the City encompasses over 50 square miles, and, with a population of nearly 185,000, Vancouver is the fourth largest city in Washington (behind Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma and just ahead of Bellevue). As Vancouver embarks on an update to the 15-year-old Transportation System Plan, learn about how the City is striving to transform the existing transportation system …

Riding The Green Wave: Researchers Test “Green Light Optimized Speed” App For Bicyclists, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Project Briefs

No abstract provided.

Fast Track: Allowing Bikes To Participate In A Smart-Transportation System, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Final Reports

This project focuses on a mode of transportation that is currently left out of V2X (vehicle-to-everything) conversations: bicycling. The project demonstrates how university researchers, city traffic engineers, and signal-controller manufacturers can come together to give bicyclists the same technology appearing on modern vehicles: Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA). GLOSA allows motorists to set their speed along corridors to maximize their chances of catching a “green wave” (i.e., not being forced to stop as they travel through the corridor). This project demonstrates how GLOSA can be used by bicyclists in the same way it is used by motorists on a …

Our Young People And The Gateway To Opportunity, Jonnie Ling

PSU Transportation Seminars

The Community Cycling Center has been working with youth through the "Big Jump: Gateway to Opportunity" project. We'll be discussing our exploratory educational model and the ways the project can increase accessibility and opportunity for the youth living and learning in the Gateway neighborhoods.

Webinar: Social Transportation Analytic Toolbox (Stat) For Transit Networks, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will present an open-source socio-transportation analytic toolbox (STAT) for public transit system planning. This webinar will consist of a demonstration of the STAT toolbox, for the primary purpose of getting feedback from transit agencies on the tool's usefulness. We are especially interested in hearing about any improvements that would aid transit agencies in implementing it.

The STAT toolbox was created in an effort to integrate social media and general transit feed specification (GTFS) data for transit agencies, to aid in evaluating and enhancing the performance of public transit systems. The toolbox enables the integration, analysis, and visualization of …