Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Steering Clear Of Single-Occupancy Vehicles: Campus Transportation Demand Management Strategies For The University Of South Carolina, Reaghan Kelly Murphy

Senior Theses

Institutions of higher education increasingly serve as fundamental sources of creativity, economic growth, and innovation. As these institutions continue to employ and enroll ever-increasing populations, however, they also become primary contributors to congestion, transportation inefficiencies, and carbon emissions. It is imperative, therefore, that universities implement better, more sustainable planning techniques, especially within the context of transportation. This thesis explores the history and nuances of sustainable transportation planning on college campuses before delving into a detailed case study of the University of South Carolina’s transportation demand management strategies. To inform the resulting analysis, an in-depth review is conducted of eight comparable …

Housing And Mobility Toolkit For San Mateo County, Serena Alexander, Joseph Kott, Bruce Appleyard, Mark Garrett, Shannon Mcdonald, Maaza Mekuria, Udeme J. Ndon, Anurag Pande, Eric Peterson

Mineta Transportation Institute

Since the end of the Great Recession, San Mateo County has attracted new workers at a record rate without building anywhere near enough housing. This jobs-housing imbalance drives the cost of housing up and forces many moderate and lower-income employees and their families out of the County. A lack of access to quality affordable housing in the County and the entire Bay Area along with limited transportation options means that an increased number of employees drive in and out of the County every workday. The resultant congestion, gridlock, and long commutes along with other negative environmental, social, and economic impacts …

Pedpdx: Addressing Equity Through Citywide Pedestrian Planning, Michelle Marx, Francesca Patricolo

PSU Transportation Seminars

Pedestrian safety and access is an equity issue. In Portland, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure and traffic safety concerns disproportionately impact low-income communities and people of color. The City is attempting to rectify these inequities through PedPDX, Portland’s new citywide pedestrian plan (anticipated for adoption in Spring 2019). PedPDX prioritizes sidewalk and crossing improvements and other investments, policies, strategies and tools to make walking safer and more comfortable across the city.

Come learn about the strategies PedPDX is using to address transportation equity in Portland, including establishing a data-based prioritization for citywide pedestrian investments, identifying roadway and behavioral characteristics most closely …

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 …

New Pedestrian Modeling Tools: Growing Beyond The Portland Region, Kelly Clifton, Jamie Orrego-Onate, Patrick Allen Singleton, Robert J. Schneider

TREC Project Briefs

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 …

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 …

Webinar: Rethinking Streets For Bikes: An Evidence Based Guide Of Bike-Friendly Street Retrofits, Marc Schlossberg, Roger Lindgren

TREC Webinar Series

There is a growing demand for better infrastructure and fewer barriers to biking and other forms of space-efficient micromobility. Tackling daily trips by bike is easier on the environment, healthier for users and non-users alike, uses precious urbanized public and private land more efficiently, costs taxpayers less to build and maintain infrastructure, and when routes are safe and comfortable, moving by bike is also fun! Complete Streets policies are being adopted across the country, and there is an active conversation around the safety imperative of a Complete Streets approach. Yet, local officials often need both design guidance and the …

Webinar: Words Matter: Recognizing And Addressing Modal Assumptions To Shift Transportation Culture, Barb Chamberlain

TREC Webinar Series

Search #DriverNotCar or #CrashNotAccident on Twitter and you’ll find a vigorous discussion about the power of word choices to shape our understanding of what happens on the street and who’s responsible. When we directly examine and discuss the language we use, we acknowledge its power both to reflect existing attitudes and to shape developing attitudes. This presentation will uncover embedded biases or assumptions in common transportation terminology and provide tips and tools to help us broaden our inclusion of everyone we are supposed to serve as transportation professionals.

The Success Of An Integrated Mobility Strategy: Lessons From The Netherlands For The Pacific West Coast, Lucas Van Der Linde

PSU Transportation Seminars

The Netherlands sets the standard for their multimodal connectivity. It has world's highest use of cycling and an integrated mobility network with an efficient transport system. During this seminar, Lucas will tell more about the Dutch Approach and how this could be applied to the American transportation context.

Lucas will use the case of the Bay area to show this. The Bay Area in California currently faces massive challenges in transportation because of the enormous growth of the region. With the use of a new innovative modelling tool, the Move Meter (http://www.movemeter.com/), Lucas will show the potential of …

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 …

Vehicle To Infrastructure: Letting Cyclists Talk To Signals, Stephen Fickas

TREC Project Briefs

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 …

From Knowledge To Practice: Rethinking Streets For People On Bikes, Marc Schlossberg, John Rowell, Roger Lindgren

TREC Project Briefs

For too long we’ve been building streets as though they have one function–to move cars quickly. The reality is that streets can to do more than just move cars. They can move people on foot, on bikes, on transit, without hurting vehicular throughput and safety. They can be more than a way to get somewhere else. Good streets are good places, too – public places where people meet, sit and socialize, conduct business, wander about, play, and more.

The Portland E-Scooter Experience, Briana Orr, John Macarthur, Jennifer Dill

PSU Transportation Seminars

Portland's E-Scooter Pilot made national news for its proactive and data-driven approach to exploring the role of e-scooters in our transportation system. One of the first cities to implement a comprehensive data sharing agreement with e-scooter providers, Portland now has a lot of findings to share. This Friday Seminar will dive into both the data collected and the experiences of Portlanders during the pilot. We’ll discuss what worked well, unexpected findings, and considerations for future new mobility pilots. Download the E-Scooter Findings Report (released Jan 2019) here.

Webinar: Modeling Freeway Traffic In A Mixed Environment: Connected And Human-Driven Vehicles, Xianfeng Terry Yang

TREC Webinar Series

Although connected vehicles (CVs) will soon go beyond testbeds, CVs and human-driven vehicles (HVs) will co-exist over a long period. Hence, it is critical to consider the interactions between these two types of vehicles in traffic flow modeling. In this study, we aim to develop a macroscopic model to understand how CVs would impact HVs in the traffic stream. Grounded on the second-order traffic flow model, we study the relationships among flow, density, and speed by two sets of formulations for the groups of CVs and HVs, respectively. A set of friction factors, which indicate CVs' impact to HVs, are …

Social Equity In Transit Service: Toward Social And Environmental Justice In Transportation, Torrey Lyons

TREC Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores social equity as it applies to public transportation. Transit has long been considered a tool to alleviate inequity by limiting the effects of spatial mismatch and providing access to opportunity to disadvantaged populations. This theory, however, has not been adequately proven empirically. The first chapter of this dissertation tests the theory that spatial mismatch is moderated by quality transit service. We do this by taking a cross section of the largest urban areas in the United States and applying structural equation modeling to identify relationships between exogenous and endogenous factors. We find that higher quality transit service …

Data From: How Will Autonomous Vehicles Change Local Government Budgeting And Finance? Case Studies Of On-Street Parking, Curb Management, And Solid Waste Collection, Benjamin Y. Clark

TREC Datasets and Databases

Datafiles

Parking Occupancy Datasets: These CSV (comma separated values) datafiles include parking occupancy data from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Each of the 11 datafiles indicates the time period that it includes, with dates ranging from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2017. Each file contains 6 months of data on block-by-block occupancy of paid parking. The number of available spaces were calculated from this dataset in addition to the median and mean occupancy rates for each Tract. City data documentation indicates the following about the dataset: “The City of Seattle has created an on-street paid parking occupancy …

Are Wide Streets Negligent?, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

American commercial streets are typically designed to encourage rapid automobile traffic, thus making streets unsafe for pedestrians. In the 2016 case of Turturro v. City of New York, the New York Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict against a city for failing to slow down such traffic. This article describes Turturro, but shows how limited its holding was: the Turturro court emphasized a city's failure to study traffic calming, so if a city studies its options adequately it can avoid liability even if its policies are unsuccessful.

Ready Streets, Parkrose And Argay: Community Report, Kerry Aszklar, Jaye Cromwell, Bryan Nguyen, Joey Posada, Sabina Roan, Sophie Turnbull-Apell

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

How will people get around after a major earthquake? The Ready Streets project examines ways to create a strong, connected, and disaster-resilient mobility network in the Parkrose-Argay neighborhood of Portland, as well as replicable criteria for future neighborhoods. This is accomplished by examining the existing conditions of the area, working with community members to determine key destinations and priorities, and formulating recommendations to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The 1 page brochure for the public is available in the Additional Files below.

The Impact Of Transportation Network Companies On Public Transit: A Case Study At The San Francisco International Airport, Lianne Renee Sturgeon

Scripps Senior Theses

The emergence and rapid growth of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), such as Uber and Lyft, has challenged the transportation industry by offering a new mode of transportation to consumers. It is imperative that transit agencies and cities understand the effect of TNCs on public transit usage to make informed decisions. This study analyzes the impact of TNCs on Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) ridership at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to measure the effect of TNCs on public transit. Using a fixed effects model to analyze hourly BART and TNC ridership data from 2011 to 2018, these findings suggest …

Cathedral Mobility: A Mobility Strategy For Cathedral Park Neighborhood 2019, Chad Vinson Tucker, Ian Clancy, Erik Memmott

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Cathedral Park Neighborhood is a wonderful area to live with beautiful parks and a vibrant commercial center. Unfortunately, the current transportation infrastructure makes it difficult to access everything this neighborhood has to offer without a car. A few of the transportation issues with which current residents must contend are:

• The neighborhood has no bike lanes or marked crosswalks.
• Several streets dead-end because of steep terrain issues.
• The steepness also makes it difficult or impossible for many people, including older persons or people with disabilities, to access the river and Cathedral Park.
• Many streets are unpaved and uncomfortable to use. …

Transit Access Equity In Richmond, Va, Rachel Jordan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the extent of public transit access equity issues in Richmond, VA. The City of Richmond has an established public transportation network system, and the thesis explores the level of access for urban residents to use existing public transportation services. Technologies and programs have begun to emerge across the United States to help solve transit accessibility challenges. The thesis assesses the level of transit access equity that exists in Richmond and introduces technologies and services that could help improve accessibility and equity. The thesis uses a mixed methods approach that will consist of …

Capturing The Built Environment-Travel Interaction For Strategic Planning: Development Of A Multimodal Travel Module For The Regional Strategic Planning Model (Rspm), Liming Wang, Brian Gregor, Huajie Yang, Tara Weidner, Anthony Knudson

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Integrated land use and transportation models have evolved along a spectrum from simple sketch planning models to complex microsimulation models. While each has its niche, they are largely unable to balance the flexibility and realism of microsimulation and the speed and interactivity of simple models. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) aims to fill this gap by taking a microsimulation approach while making other simplifications in order to model first-order effects quickly. It enables planners to consider the robustness of prospective policies in the face of future uncertainties by accepting a broad range of inputs and allowing rapid simulations of …

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 …

Modeling Mixed Freeway Traffic: Human-Driven And Self-Driven Cars, Xianfeng Terry Yang, Zhao Zhang, Zhehao Zhang

TREC Project Briefs

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 …

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) …

Modeling For New Modes: Autonomous Vehicles & Shared Rides, Liming Wang, Joseph Broach, Huajie Yang

TREC Project Briefs

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) …

Transportation Behavior Change...Now With Science!, Jessica Roberts

PSU Transportation Seminars

How can we encourage people to make use of the transportation systems in place - to improve transit ridership and, in turn, to improve the health and happiness of our societies?

New findings in behavioral science could unlock new, more effective ways to change transportation behavior...but only if we have a way to find and use that evidence. TransLink (Vancouver BC) undertook a groundbreaking research effort to use cognitive biases to explain why people drive today, and and to identify possible "nudge" strategies to shift those trips to transit and active modes. The resulting report includes brand-new ideas that area …

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 …