It was nothing but sunny skies during PSU President Wim Wiewel’s special Umbrella Tour visit to OTREC and the ITS Lab. Rob Bertini and a number of transportation faculty member briefed the contingent on alternative transportation and traffic control. The participants included: Angela Abel, University Communications; Jeff Austin, Alumni Board President; David Bragdon, Metro Council President; Scott Burns, Geology Professor; Lloyd Daggett, Student Ambassador; Robert Mercer, Faculty Senate President; John Petersen, Foundation Board President; President Wim Wiewel, Portland State University; and Jennifer Williams, University Communications.
Rob Bertini and Hau Hagedorn met with Gail Achterman, Director of the OSU Institute for Natural Resources and Chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission, to provide updates on OTREC and to discuss future research opportunities and partnerships to move towards transportation mobility services. Some view mobility services as a vital piece of transportation sustainability equation.
PSU President Wim Wiewel accompanied by the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean, Dick Knight, stopped by to tour the ITS Lab and visit with OTREC staff and ITS Lab students. President Wim Wiewel started his first day at PSU this past Monday with a bike ride to campus. Pictured from left to right: (back row) Sandeep Puppala, Alex Bigazzi, Melissa Leventhal, Dean Dick Knight, Michael Wolfe, Dr. Robert Bertini (front row) Ocean Ou, Carol Wallace, Dr. Kristin Tufte and President Wim Wiewel.
STEP members attended the 2008 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Anaheim, California. Students were able to interact with professionals from all over the country and learn about case studies that were divided into four categories; traffic engineering and design, safety, planning, management and operations, and conversation circles. Members also went on a special tour of the toll lanes on California State Route 91. This congestion priced road is one of the countryís few roads that generate enough revenue to fully pay all of its expenses. Dr. Christopher Monsere presented on the National Transportation Education Conference at the Current Practice in Professional Education and Training session. STEP also won the Student Chapter Web Site Award. STEP members also had the opportunity in the evenings to enjoy nearby Downtown Disneyland and Newport Beach. STEP would like to thank SALP and OTREC for their funding support. The picture on the left shows (from left to right) Dr. Christopher Monsere, Chengyu Dai, Rolando Melgoza, Huan Li, Alex Bigazzi, Lisa Diercksen, and Leah Tomlinson. (Written by Rolando Melgoza)
On August 21, Katie Drennan and Ante Vulin, from Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s office, visited with OTREC and IBPI staff to learn more about the Consortium and the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Institute. Mary Rae Moller, Dr. Robert Bertini, Dr. Jennifer Dill, Dr. Lynn Weigand, and Hau Hagedorn participated in the discussion with Congressman Blumenauer’s legislative assistants.
On August 15th, over 30 high school youth from Oregon participated in design charette concluding the OTREC-sponsored Oregon Young Scholars Program. The young scholars were presented with a design problem earlier in the week and worked with their perspective cohorts (business, public health, planning and design, art and science) to educate themselves about the issue. The problem looked at the West Eugene Corridor as the next place to pursue bus rapid transit. Alternatives were identified, and the young scholars were charged with determining where the route should go. The charette included involvement from the young scholars and professionals from the Lane Transit District and the City of Eugene explore solutions to the design problem. On Saturday, the students gave a formal presentation to their parents and the City based on the results of the charette.
OTREC welcomed staff members Kris Pratt (Legislative Director) and Nils Tilstrom (Legislative Assistant) from Congressman David Wu’s office on August 12. Kris and Nils met with Robert Bertini, Hau Hagedorn, and Mary Rae Moller (PSU Federal Relations Associate) for an overview of OTREC and Consortium progress updates.
Drs. Christopher Monsere and Miguel Figliozzi made four presentations at at the North American Travel Monitoring Exhibition & Conference (NATMEC) in Washington D.C., August 6-8, 2008. Professor Monsere presented “Toward Incorporating Arterial Performance Quality in the PORTAL Archived Data User Service,” “Building a WIM Data Archive for Improved Modeling, Design, and Rating” and “Techniques for Establishing and Measuring Data Quality in an Archived Data User Service.” Co-authors included R.L. Bertini, K. Tufte, A. Nichols, M. Berkow and M. Wolfe. Professor Figliozzi presented “Linking Freight Planning and Real-Time Traffic Data to Monitor Freight Performance Measures,” which was co-authored with K. Tufte.
OTREC is pleased to announce the fourth issue of OTREC News. Issues of OTREC News include reports on our research projects, profiles of students and faculty, introductions to our Executive Committee and Advisory Board, updates on education programs and events, reports of partner university transportation news, and examples of exciting collaboration within our Consortium. This issue includes several special features including a spotlight on the OTREC-ODOT co-sponsored vehicle mileage fee project, overview of projects selected for 2008-2009, and a discussion on climate-friendly transportation research and much more. We welcome your feedback on our publications! Read the newsletter here: Newsletter Summer 2008.
OTREC was pleased to host a two day course on Traffic Signal Design, taught by Charles Radosta, John Ringert and Hermanus Steyn, of Kittelson & Associates, June 23-24, 2008. Professionals from around the Northwest participated in the highly interactive course. This is part of OTREC’s ongoing effort to provide relevant and affordable training and education opportunities for working professionals.