Research Projects | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

Exploring Bike Bus Programs in the United States

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur

Co-Investigator: Nathan McNeil

The trip to and from school is made by nearly every child in Oregon every school day. Bike and walk buses, or organized groups of school children, parents, and ride/walk leaders, seek to encourage biking and walking to school. Aside from mitigating s ... Read More

Improving Accuracy and Precision of Bicycle Volume Estimates Using Advanced Machine Learning Approaches

Principal Investigator: Sirisha Kothuri

Co-Investigator: Banafsheh Rekabdar

This study seeks to improve modeling methods for estimating bicycle volumes. Better estimates of bicycle activity on local road and trail networks can help agencies prioritize projects, plan and design new bicycle infrastructure, and conduct safety a ... Read More

Deploy LiDAR systems at intersections to improve equitable mobility

Principal Investigator: Taylor Li

Co-Investigator: Stephen Mattingly

In this project, the researchers will develop a series of technology transfer materials and plan to facilitate to deploy the research findings out of a NITC-funded project titled “Pedestrian Behavior Study to Advance Pedestrian Safety in Smart Tran ... Read More

Expanding Transmobilities: An Art-Informed Methodology For Genderdiverse Travel Behavior

Principal Investigator: Nicholas Puczkowskyj

There is a significant gendered travel behavior research gap in the transportation literature. A plethora of transportation literature identifying and contrasting cisgender disparities exists, but more inclusive approaches to genderdiverse identities ... Read More

Exploring the Use of Crowdsourced Data Sources for Pedestrian Count Estimations

Principal Investigator: Sirisha Kothuri

Co-Investigators: Nathan McNeil , Kate Hyun , Stephen Mattingly

Counts provide the foundation for measuring nonmotorized travel along a link or a network and are also useful for monitoring trends, planning new infrastructure, and for conducting safety, health, and economic analyses. For safety analysis, they are ... Read More

Tools and resources for gateway communities

Principal Investigator: Danya Rumore

Co-Investigator: Philip Stoker

For the last five years, our team has been studying the planning and development challenges of small towns and cities near national parks, public lands, and other natural amenities. Our prior and ongoing NITC funded research shows that these “gatew ... Read More

Machine Learning and Big Data-Based Approaches for Quality Freeway Volumes

Principal Investigator: Adrian Cottam

Traffic volumes are essential for the operation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and for use in performance metrics for Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO). Maintaining high quality freeway volumes is paramount to ensur ... Read More

Job-Worker Balance & Polycentric Transit-Oriented Development: Toward Indices and Spatio-temporal Trends

Principal Investigator: Robert Hibberd

This dissertation will further NITC goals to increase access to employment opportunities and provide better models for an increasingly complex transportation system. It will consider the effectiveness of transit-oriented development (TOD) at addressi ... Read More

Unsupervised Approach to Investigate Urban Traffic Crashes Based on Crash Unit, Crash Severity, and Manner of Collision

Principal Investigator: Farzin Maniei

Co-Investigator: Stephen Mattingly

Both crash frequency analysis (CFA) and real-time crash prediction models (RTCPMs) typically divide a highway into segments with a constant length for data aggregation. Despite the significant impact of the segment length in several previous traffic ... Read More

Equity Perspective in Transportation Planning

Principal Investigator: Jandel Crutchfield

The “Equity Perspective in Transportation Planning” proposal is to develop a module/session that familiarizes students with the historical and structural processes that fuel unequal transportation access and mobility for communities today. It is ... Read More

Toward Automating the Measurement of Urban Design Qualities Related to Walkability

Principal Investigator: 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 ... Read More

Housing Choice, Transportation Equity, and Access to Opportunities in Refugee and Immigrant Communities

Principal Investigator: Diane Mitschke

Co-Investigators: Anne Nordberg , Stephen Mattingly

Mobility directly impacts access to opportunities for all protected classes; however, transportation planning and public transit agencies and housing authorities rarely coordinate affordable housing and the transportation system planning decisions. T ... Read More