National Institute for Transportation and Communities

This Small Starts study offers sustainable road building materials for rural infrastructure, from an unlikely source. Approximately 7,000 years ago, the eruption of Oregon's Mt. Mazama blanketed the Klamath Basin region with a thick layer of volcanic ash. Matthew Sleep, an associate professor of civil engineering at Oregon Tech, investigated the use of this ash as a natural pozzolan for soil stabilization and unpaved roadway improvement. He found that the ash, prevalent in Southern Oregon, ha... Read More

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