TREC research addresses complex transportation problems by drawing on multiple disciplines, including engineering, planning, economics and design, from across the Portland State University campus. Use the search box at right to search for a specific project.
Research Highlights
Developing SafeSpot: A New Crowdsourcing Tool for Real-Time Near-Miss Detection and Risk Mapping
Tanmoy Bhowmik Primal Pappachan
Transportation safety analysis has traditionally relied on police-reported crashes to identify dangerous locations. This reactive approach overlooks the many near-miss incidents and perceived hazards that occur daily but go unrecorded. Understanding such incidents is essential for proactive transportation safety planning, allowing for interventions before injuries or fatalities occur. However, current practice lacks a systematic way to collect and analyze near-miss data, creating a critical gap…
Read More
Toward Automating the Measurement of Urban Design Qualities Related to Walkability
S. Hassan Ameli
Streets are one of the most significant elements of urban spaces to accommodate public activity and provide access to numerous locations and services. Today, our cities face various challenges, including urban sprawl, air pollution, and obesity. To address some of these problems, cities and local governments consider land use planning and urban design to lower car dependency and promote walking and biking. Many studies have characterized the built environment in terms of D variables density,…
Read More

