Julian Griffee is a second-year masters student in urban and regional planning at the University of Arizona and a 2020 TRB Minority Student Fellow. He has worked as a planner, volunteered with the Peace Corps in Albania, and worked on bicycle and pedestrian transportation. He is currently a Climate Adaptation Outreach Assistant for the City of Tucson, Arizona.
Tell us about yourself?
My name is Julian Griffee, a current 2nd year M.S. Urban Planning Candidate and Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellow at the University of Arizona. Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, I received my B.S. in Geography with a concentration in land use planning from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Professionally, I have worked as a Planner I, have embarked on a Peace Corps service as an Urban and Regional Planning Volunteer to Albania, have interned within the City of Tucson Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Program as well as the Burlington-Graham Metropolitan Planning Organization in North Carolina, and now I am working with the City of Tucson’s Planning and Development Services Department where I research climate adaptation policies. During my time with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program, I assisted in the development...
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- Download the Poster Presentation for “Evaluation of Bus-Bicycle and Bus/Right-Turn Traffic Delays and Conflicts” (PDF)
When buses and bikes share space, it's complicated. Not only are there safety risks for cyclists, but also potential delays in bus service and stressful navigation for bus operators. The quest to increase bus speeds—and plausibly...
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- Download the Project Brief (PDF)
- Read "The experience of transportation to visit a Nursing home resident: a case study" published in the May 2020 issue of Social Work in Health Care
Older adults who live in nursing homes are at an increased risk for depression and anxiety, and research has shown that social...
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Byron Head is a masters student in the department of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. His focus is on active transportation and transportation demand management, and he is joining the University of Utah's sustainability office as the first Sustainability Graduate Assistant. Prior to beginning the masters program at UU he worked for the Tennessee Department of Transportation as a transportation program monitor.
Tell us about yourself?
It’s been quite a winding road for me to end up in the world of transportation planning. I went to Ole Miss for my undergrad in International Studies and Arabic because I thought I wanted to join the Peace Corps. Then I thought I wanted to be an English teacher, then a biologist. Eventually, I stumbled across a TDOT job posting in the Division of Multimodal Transportation Resources and thought to myself, “Multimodal? That means, like, bikes and buses and walking, right? I like riding my bike!” And that’s how I ended up working for TDOT, which eventually led me to the University of Utah.
I’m in my first semester of the Master of City and Metropolitan Planning program at the University of Utah. Outside of work and school, I enjoy cycling and playing Ultimate Frisbee. Since I’ve moved to Utah, I’m trying to get better at cycling up mountains because we don’t have those in Tennessee. I’m also...
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NITC researchers Stephen Fickas and Marc Schlossberg of the University of Oregon are on a mission: bring the benefits of V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure communication) to bicycling. Earlier this year they published their proof-of-concept of a DIY vehicle-to-infrastructure "bike box" in Oregon for communicating with traffic signal controllers. In the most recent round of NITC grants awarded this past summer they secured funding for Green Waves, Machine Learning, and Predictive Analytics: Making Streets Better for People on Bike & Scooter.
APPLYING GLOSA TO CYCLING
The latest report to come out of this body of work focuses 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 busy car and bike corridor feeding the University of Oregon campus: 13th Avenue in Eugene, Oregon.
Fickas and Schlossberg created a...
The 11th annual Transportation and Communities Summit 2019, held at Portland State University (PSU) on September 19–20, drew attendees from 14 states across the U.S. Over 250 people joined us for the Summit day, and nearly 60 took part in the deep-dive workshop day. We hope the event offered new opportunities for collaboration and synergy between researchers, practitioners, and community members.
Peter DeFazio, the U.S. Representative for Oregon's 4th congressional district, kicked off the day with a video welcome message for the summit attendees, followed on the main stage by TREC director and urban planning faculty Jennifer Dill.
At lunchtime Ben Wellington, the data...
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What if your bicycle could warn you that a car is coming from a side street you can't see? Or let you know that your front tire is getting a little low, or that you're approaching a pothole that wasn't there yesterday? A NITC research project led by John MacArthur of Portland State University explores how connected vehicle (CV) technologies could encourage an increase in bicycling. As CV technology moves forward in the rest of the transportation system—with buses and connected streetcars requesting early green lights from the traffic signals, and cars chatting with each other...
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Torrey Lyons, University of Utah
- Download the Final Report (PDF)
- Download the Project Brief (PDF)
- Join us on Sept. 19th at Portland State to hear Dr. Lyons’ talk on “The Effects of Transit and Compactness on Regional Economic Outcomes”
Transit agencies often focus on ridership as a primary measure of performance: If enough people are riding transit, then the system is a success. But who are those riders, and why is volume the benchmark?
This viewpoint can skip over an important aspect of a transit agency’s function; that is, providing opportunity to...
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Amy Lubitow and Julius McGee, Portland State University; Raoul Liévanos, University of Oregon
- Download the Final Report (PDF)
- Download the Project Brief (PDF)
- Hear from the researcher—Register to attend the TCS2019 session "Fair and Accurate Data: Equity-informed Approach to Representation"
What is the quality of travel data for...
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