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

Rapid Transportation Structure Evaluation Toolkit

Charles (C.J.) Riley
A previous NITC grant (#985 Dynamic Evaluation of Transportation Structures with iPod-Based Data Acquisition) supported education and research development at Oregon Tech in the area of mobile devices in sensor network applications to evaluate transportation structures via dynamic parameters like natural frequency and damping ratio. The goal of the previous grant was to determine the feasibility of using mobile devices in structural health monitoring applications and to build an educational… Read More

Exploring the positive utility of travel and mode choice

Patrick Singleton
Traditionally, travel is considered a disutility to be minimized, and travel demand is derived from activity demand. Recently, scholars have questioned these axioms, noting that some people may like to travel, use travel time productively, find other benefits in traveling, or travel for non-utilitarian reasons. These are instances of “the positive utility of travel” (PUT). In this dissertation, I conceptually and empirically investigate PUT, its determinants, and its impacts on travel behavior… Read More