The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to health, the economy, and transportation systems in cities. The key strategy to combat growth in the infection rate is through "social distancing," maintaining physical separation from others. This strategy is incompatible with transit… Read More

Unemployment, low wages, poverty, and lack of affordable housing are the main drivers of an increasing homeless population throughout the U.S. in recent years. Transit agencies are being impacted by homelessness. While transit agencies cannot address the underlying causes of homelessness, there are… Read More

The Active Transportation Return on Investment (ATROI) study aimed to provide a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the benefits of active transportation infrastructure in the Portland, OR region. The study used a selection of projects constructed in the region between 2001 and 2017 to… Read More

Led by Xiaoyue Cathy Liu of the University of Utah, researchers have created a web-based modeling tool that enables U.S. transit providers to explore the impacts of changing over their systems to battery electric buses, or BEBs. The researchers ran the model for TriMet in Portland, OR, as well,… Read More

As bike share systems around the United States have grown in number and size in recent years, there has been an increasing effort to ensure that those systems are accessible to all residents, particularly those who have the fewest resources or have been underserved in the past. The mobility… Read More

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 applied to entire transit systems, microscopic… Read More

In 2015, the City of Portland adopted Vision Zero's objective of eliminating transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries. Speed, through analysis of crash data, was determined to be a contributing factor in 47% of the fatal crashes observed in Portland. Thus, one of the pillars in the… Read More

Electric bikes (e-bikes) are a new mode of transportation that could substantially improve efficiency in the transportation system if adopted as substitutes for cars. Researchers at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Portland State University, and Bosch E-Bike Systems have received funding from… Read More

Network assignment models are widely used to study the flow of commodities on infrastructure with a network structure (such as roadway drivers or freight shipments) and form the basis of transportation planning for urban areas. Currently, most network assignment models assume that the travel costs… Read More

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 suburban segment of the City of Portland that was… Read More

Even though there are tremendous uncertainties in the timing and evolution path of the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) technology, it may become a likely reality within most MPOs' long-range regional transportation plan horizon of twenty years. Yet a recent survey of largest MPOs in the US indicates only… Read More

Bicycling is increasing in the United States -- the number of trips made by bicycle more than doubled from 1.7 billion trips in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009 (National Household Travel Survey, 2009). With the increase in bicycling rates, there is a critical need for cycling infrastructure, which… Read More