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

Framing Livability: A Strategic Communications Approach to Improving Public Transportation in Oregon

Deborah Morrison Autumn Shafer , Rebecca Lewis
Oregon is recognized as a national leader in improving transportation options and limiting urban sprawl. In the 42 years since Senate Bill 100 launched Oregon's land use planning program, these efforts have gone by different names: "reducing reliance on the automobile," "reducing vehicles miles traveled," "reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation," "compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented development," "smart growth," "sustainability," and "livability," to name a few. Despite these… Read More

Building Planner Commitment: Are Oregon’s SB 1059 & California’s SB 375 Models for Climate-Change Mitigation?

Keith Bartholomew Reid Ewing
Oregon’s Sustainable Transportation Initiative (SB 1059) and California’s Sustainable Communities Act (SB 375) have made them the first states in the nation to try and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using the transportation-planning process. Evaluating how these pioneering laws have changed local planning processes – as well as plans themselves – in each state provides insight into the laws’ effectiveness at changing development patterns in a way that reduces GHG emissions, without… Read More