Bicycle and Pedestrian Engineering Design Curriculum Expansion

Ashley Haire, Portland State University

Summary:

Bicycle and pedestrian issues are gaining nationwide attention in transportation curricula. More programs seek to offer courses specifically geared towards bicycle and pedestrian planning and design goals, although fewer than 20 known courses are currently offered at universities across the US. Most of these known courses are offered in planning departments and do not delve into engineering details of design. This report describes the development and delivery of a new bicycle and pedestrian engineering design course offered at Portland State University in Winter Term, 2011, which was well-received and included undergraduate and graduate students in civil engineering and planning. The course was structured similarly to a traffic engineering course and, among other pedestrian- and bicycle-specific issues, covered topics that might be addressed in a traffic engineering or geometric design course, but from the perspective of the cyclist or pedestrian. Augmenting course notes delivered in class and homework assignments focusing predominantly on practical fieldwork and associated solutions, the course included a term project in which students worked in teams to evaluate the functionality and design of several pedestrian and/or bicycle hybrid signals in Portland.

Project Details

Project Type:
Education
Project Status:
Completed
End Date:
June 30,2011
UTC Grant Cycle:
OTREC 2011
UTC Funding:
$25,174