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

Connected Streetcar Project

Principal Investigator: Kristin Tufte

Co-Investigators: Larry Head , John MacArthur

This project will create a foundation for deploying connected vehicle infrastructure and facilitating connected vehicle research for the NITC UTC. Connected Vehicle (CV) technology and the associated data has the potential to help us better understan ... Read More

Development Of Low-Cost Radar-Based Sensor For Multi-Modal Traffic Monitoring

Principal Investigator: Siyang Cao

Co-Investigator: Yao-Jan Wu

Multimodal traffic monitoring is critical for improving the mobility and safety at the intersections with potential conflicts among various modes of transportation. Traditional traffic monitoring approaches utilizing camera cannot work reliably durin ... Read More

Developing and Testing Transportation Barriers Scale and Its Impact on Mental Health Among At-risk/Homeless Youth and Emerging Adults

Principal Investigator: Philip Baiden

Co-Investigators: Godfred Boateng , Stephen Mattingly

Although many environmental justice (EJ) populations such as individuals from low-income families, at-risk/homeless individuals, and older adults face mobility challenges, at-risk/homeless individuals face some of the most significant transportation ... 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

Exploring Data Fusion Techniques to Derive Bicycle Volumes on a Network

Principal Investigator: Sirisha Kothuri

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

Planners and decision makers have increasingly voiced a need for network-wide estimates of bicycling activity. Such volume estimates have for decades informed motorized planning and analysis but have only recently become feasible for non-motorized tr ... Read More

An Electric Bus Deployment Framework for Improved Air Quality and Transit Operational Efficiency

Principal Investigator: Xiaoyue Liu

Co-Investigators: Aaron Golub , Ran Wei

Public transit, compared with passenger cars, can effectively help conserve energy, reduce air pollution, and optimize flow on roadways. In recent years, Battery Electric Bus (BEB) is receiving an increasing amount of attention from transit vehicle i ... Read More

Evaluation of Portland Shared E-Scooter Pilot Program Goals and Outcomes

Principal Investigator: John MacArthur

Co-Investigator: Jennifer Dill

Shared electric scooters (e-scooters) are fast becoming a mobility option across the U.S. Many cities are permitting their operation, in part, as a way to provide another option to driving private cars. This could reduce private vehicle miles travell ... Read More