Justice P. Tuffour is a recent graduate of the Master of City and Metropolitan Planning program at the University of Utah. He specialized in smart growth, transportation, land use, and accessibility planning. Justice is a dual recipient of the Department of Planning (CMP) and College of Architecture and Planning (CA+P) scholarships. In the CMP Department, he worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a Research Assistant at the Metropolitan Research Center (MRC). Justice is currently working as a Planner and GIS Technician for the city of Holladay, UT.

Connect with Justice on LinkedIn & Research Gate

Tell us about yourself?

Before moving to the University of Utah during the winter of the 2020 pandemic, I pursued most of my education in Ghana where I obtained a Master of Philosophy degree in Planning, and an honorary Bachelor of Science (First Class) in Human Settlement Planning. Two things that I love are spending time with my family and playing soccer. The latter is a hobby I cherish, but the former is a commitment I prioritize. I also enjoy good conversations and good jokes. I have over a decade of research experience and skills in spatial mapping, quantitative analysis, spatial programming language, urban design, and 3D software modeling. My research interests lie within the fields of land use and transport interactions modeling, planning policy on climate actions, emerging mobility technologies, housing policy, spatial data analytics, and smart growth strategies.

What (or who) has influenced your career path in transportation?

(My career path has been influenced by numerous people and factors, but here is a short version of the journey).

My decision to study urban planning was largely influenced by the magnitude of impacts Planners can make on communities on various scales. Once this path was charted, I was quickly immersed in numerous academic research and professional planning consultancy projects with my mentor and supervising professor (Prince A. Anokye) while pursuing my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Ghana. The crucial experience I gained from learning from and working closely with Prince exposed me to transportation-related research and projects at both local and multi-national levels. This would inspire me to pursue advanced transportation research in a world-class, international, and multicultural environment. I was particularly intrigued and attracted to the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning (CMP) program, at the University of Utah by the works of Professor Reid Ewing, whose enormous contributions to the field of urban planning and transportation systems remain ground-breaking. During the time that I have learned from and worked with Reid at the Metropolitan Research Center (MRC), I have never been more intrigued about land use and transportation planning. I have been involved in numerous research projects for local and state transportation agencies like UTA and UDOT that have shaped the course of my career path. We are currently working on a project for the State DOT titled "Transportation benefits and costs of reducing lane widths on urban and rural arterials."

You published a paper on "Contested Mobility Interactions" in Case Studies on Transport Policy - Tell us about that research?

"Contested Mobility Interactions" is the published version of my final dissertation project in the MCMP program. In this paper, I primarily investigated how Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft influence the adoption and use of public transit systems in the Salt Lake Metropolitan Area. The research aim was mainly to capture the unique characteristics of Uber and Lyft users (popularly referred to as ride-hailing service users) and measure their impacts on transit ridership and investments. The paper responds to the mixed empirical results and public interest questions on how these emerging mobility platforms fit or disrupt the more conventional transport options like buses and light rail systems. Here are some highlights of the research findings:

• TNC service demand in the Salt Lake region mostly responds to short urban trips by millennials and well-educated users.
• Patterns of user adoption surge periods are not simultaneous and may not significantly contribute to mode substitution effects.
• Ride-hailing app usage has a statistically significant positive association with the count of public transit ridership.
• The elasticity of TNC service predictor remains a low but significant contributor to public transit ridership. (Read the paper to learn more.)

I am excited about my upcoming research and publications as well. One of these research works entitled "Evaluating social equity of transit accessibility" was recently presented at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual conference in Washington DC, and accepted for publication by the Transportation Research Record (TRR).

After graduation, what future work do you envision doing in transportation?

Rumor has it that Justice envisions pursuing a doctoral study in transportation systems and attaining an academic professorship in the not-so-long foreseeable future. After graduation, I took a Planner and GIS Technician position with the city of Holladay, UT – where I am actively involved in the planning and implementation of strategic transportation and urban management solutions for guiding the city’s growth. In terms of transportation, I am currently working on the city’s active transportation, trails, and accessibility plan with a group of Planners to create smarter, walkable, and resilient communities. In the long term, my goal is to make a meaningful impact on the upcoming generation of students through teaching – premised on the knowledge, skills, and expertise I obtain in the transportation planning field. I also aim to contribute immensely to shaping the sustainable growth and transportation development path of fast-growing regions like Utah and across the United States through research and professional practice.

Photo courtesy of Utah Transit Authority

This is an installment in a series of monthly Student Spotlights we're shining on students and alumni that are involved with National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) universities. NITC is a university transportation consortium funded by the U.S. DOT, and is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah, University of Arizona, and University of Texas at Arlington.