Research Projects | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

Pedal the Old Pueblo: A Naturalistic Study on Bicycling in Tucson, AZ

Principal Investigator: Joey Iuliano

Concerns for the environment and personal health have made bicycling an increasingly popular mode of transportation in the US. Understanding how bicyclists move through the built environment is critical to designing infrastructure that promotes safe ... Read More

Transportation as a Critical Factor in the Homelessness Continuum

Principal Investigator: Erin Murphy

Transportation is an often-cited barrier to health management, employment, social inclusion, and access to social services. Despite its importance, transportation is largely overlooked in the homelessness literature and, despite their vulnerabilities ... Read More

Employment-Worker Balance & Polycentric Transit-Oriented Development: Towards an Index

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

Identifying and Measuring Transportation Challenges for Survivors in Intimate Partner Violence Shelters

Principal Investigator: Sarah Robinson

Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) are more likely to experience transportation challenges. Inadequate transportation can lead to challenges accessing health care, increased usage of police services, and frequent IPV shelter stays. While re ... Read More

Free Movement: Enhancing Open Data to Facilitate Independent Travel for Persons with Disabilities

Principal Investigator: Shiloh Deitz

Co-Investigators: Amy Lobben , Henry Luan , Colin Koopman , Stephen Fickas

Nearly 40 million Americans report a disability, and of this population, 70 percent travel less because of the challenges they face. When they do travel, those with limited mobility are more likely to be pedestrians or public transit users. Today, fr ... Read More

Maternal Mental Health and Keetoowah Women: Past, Present, and Future

Principal Investigator: December Maxwell

American Indian/Native American (AI/NA) women experience postpartum depression (PPD) at a disproportionate rate. Poor transportation services and systems increase the risk of PPD prevalence in AI/NA populations, particularly since those in more rural ... Read More

Methodologies to Quantify Transit Performance Metrics at the System-Level

Principal Investigator: Travis Glick

Performance metrics have typically focused at two main scales: a microscopic scale that focuses on specific locations, time-periods, and trips; and, a macroscopic scale that averages metrics over longer times, entire routes, and networks. When applie ... Read More

Suburban Black Poverty in East Portland: The Role of Transportation in Making Ends Meet

Principal Investigator: Steven Howland

Portland has faced a mass displacement of Black households from the historically segregated area of Albina through various phases of urban renewal, urban deterioration, and gentrification. A substantial number of them have moved to East Portland, a s ... Read More

Transportation, Social Support by Family Visitation, and Depression of Older Adult Nursing Home Residents: A Mixed-Methods Study

Principal Investigator: Vivian Miller

Older adults who live in nursing homes are at an increased risk for depression and anxiety, and research has shown that social connections and family support are key factors that positively impact their mental health. However, research also suggests ... Read More

Social Equity in Transit: Toward social and environmental justice in transportation

Principal Investigator: Torrey Lyons

Much of the literature on transit focuses on very fine-grained aspects of the industry, often neglecting the important foundation of why the service is even provided in the first place. Transit service is supported by local governments with aid from ... Read More

Using Time-Series Analysis to Precisely Identify and Rank Road Hotspots

Principal Investigator: Alexander Lee

Co-Investigator: Wei Lin

Over the past decades, many ranking methods have been proposed. However, results vary from method to method, and one of the issues behind ranking is the element of subjectivity. One approach to resolve these issues is the use of combined models. One ... Read More

Data and Methodological Issues in Assessing Multimodal Transportation Impacts for Urban Development

Principal Investigator: Kristina Currans

In 1976, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) compiled their first Handbook of guidelines and methods for evaluating development-level transportation impacts, specifically vehicular impacts (Institute of Transportation Engineers 1976). Dec ... Read More

25 Results