Bikes, of course, draw more interest at a transportation conference than in other circles. Here, Portland continues to draw attention: A single day’s poster session featured no less than seven papers that use Portland as a bicycle research laboratory.

The examination of bicycling and weather drew research looks from around the continent. A paper with authors from OTREC and the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University, Australia, looked at how well different factors, including weather, affect bicycling in Portland, Ore., and Brisbane, Australia.

Light rain, for example, had little effect on bicycling in Portland, said Portland State University’s Miguel Figliozzi, one of the paper’s authors. The drop in ridership was four times as great in Brisbane on drizzly days.

“We’re used to light rain, so the difference is very small in Portland,” Figliozzi said. “In Australia, maybe they are not used to that.”

Geoffrey Rose of Monash University, another author on the paper, said the paper could help transportation decision makers understand and respond to effects of weather on active transportation, particularly as they deal with climate change. “This helps to understand the effects (of weather) on cycling today and what we can do to perhaps insulate people from those effects,” Rose said.

The paper is “Commuter Cyclists’ Sensitivity to Changes in Weather: Insight from Two Cities with Different Climatic Conditions;” other authors are Farhana Ahmed and Christian Jakob, both of Monash University.

Heavy rain in Portland produces a 23 percent decrease in bike ridership in Portland, the paper found. That’s the same decrease found in a separate paper presenting some 20 feet away at the conference.

“Cycling Activity and Weather: Multicity and Multifacility Comprehensive Study in North America” compared Portland with Canadian cities. Even Vancouver, with its similar temperate climate, showed a much greater sensitivity to rain than Portland, according to the paper, from research at McGill University.

Cycling drops 49 percent in Vancouver during heavy rains, said Thomas Nosal, one of the paper’s authors.

While other researchers from Oregon and elsewhere presented bicycling research conducted in Oregon, Portland State University’s Roger Chen presented a take on transportation and weather that used Sydney, Australia data.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, weather didn’t have a big effect on automobile drivers. “It didn’t’ matter what the weather is,” Chen said. “People who bike and walk are the most sensitive to weather.”

People also view their own comfort differently on commute trips versus social ones. Work trips were less sensitive to weather compared to social ones. “Work trips have a more rigid time constraint,” Chen said. That is, people can wait out the rain for a social trip, but typically need to arrive at work by a set time.  

The paper is “Traveling in Comfort: Investigating Weather Ranges for Travel.” Kelly Clifton of Portland State University is also an author.

Portland State University Associate Professor Kelly Clifton dove into the topic Monday, presenting a paper at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington D.C. Kristina Currans of PSU, April Cutter of Metro, and Robert Schneider of the University of California Berkeley are coauthors.

Clifton and other panelists agreed that the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ trip generation rates don’t adequately reflect actual trips in an urban area with multiple land uses and transportation modes. They differed on the remedy, however.

Presenting another paper, Associate Professor Kevan Shafizadeh of California State University Sacramento, evaluated and tested several complex methods, finding that none truly suits smart-growth development projects. However, Shafizadeh and his team found that every method tested does a better job at predicting the number of trips generated than the ITE rates.

We need to predict trips better, Clifton said, but perhaps a simpler solution exists. She acknowledged Shafizadeh’s conclusions that each alternative also had deficiencies in certain applications, and suggested that the ITE rates could be tweaked instead of scrapped entirely.

“It’s a Band-Aid to temporarily adjust (the rates) until we come up with something better,” Clifton said.

To be fair to ITE, the trip generation rates never were intended for downtown settings served by public transportation, Clifton wrote in the paper. Instead, the handbook recommends that analysts set local rates for urban areas by collecting local data.

That, of course, takes more time and money than simply using an inaccurate method, as many agencies have done. Clifton’s “Band-Aid” would adjust the rates to better fit other contexts.

Using the suburban-slanted ITE trip-generation rates can derail many urban planning objectives, Clifton said, by overestimating vehicle trips. And that means making way for more cars: widening roads, adding parking and addressing congestion when none of those approaches may be warranted or wanted.

An adjustment can address those concerns during a transition to a better system, Clifton said, recognizing that agencies are hesitant to abandon ITE rates for something new and unfamiliar.

As Sam Zimbabwe with the District of Columbia Department of Transportation said Monday, even unreal numbers create political realities for residents and decision makers, realities the officials need to address.

The paper is “Context-Based Approach for Adjusting Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Rates.”

The papers, to be presented at 37 separate sessions and poster sessions, stem from transportation research at Portland State University, the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. The three universities will send 43 students to the conference.

Alex Bigazzi, a PSU engineering doctoral student, will present his work on topics including congestion and emissions at the conference. Some of that work stems from his master’s thesis, “Roadway Congestion Impacts on Emissions, Air Quality, and Exposure,” with adviser Miguel Figliozzi at PSU. The thesis won this year’s Milton Pikarsky Memorial Award, which will be presented Jan. 21 at the Council of University Transportation Centers awards banquet.

Bigazzi will present another paper, which he wrote with PSU’s Kelly Clifton and Brian Gregor of the Oregon Department of Transportation, that looks at fuel economy for alternative-fuel vehicles in congestion. Titled “Advanced Vehicle Fuel-Speed Curves for Regional Greenhouse Gas Scenario Analysis,” the paper helps Oregon DOT incorporate hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles into its emissions planning model.

While traditional vehicles lose fuel efficiency during congested driving, advanced vehicles don’t suffer from the same effects, according to the paper.  Some even do better in congestion than at higher speeds.

“Looking at the conclusions, it’s pretty clear that as more advanced powertrain vehicles are adopted, the negative effects of congestion will be reduced, maybe eliminated or even reversed,” Bigazzi said. “Whatever role congestion mitigation plays currently, it will be less and less of a viable tool for greenhouse gas mitigation.”

Two other papers deal with air quality from transportation. “Bus Stop Air Quality: An Empirical Analysis of Exposure to Particulate Matter at Bus Stop Shelters,” by Adam Moore, Figliozzi and Christopher Monsere, found that bus shelters oriented toward the roadway have higher concentrations of pollution than those oriented away from the road. “An Empirical Study of the Impact of Freeway Traffic on in-Vehicle Exposure to Ultrafine Particulate Matter,” by Bigazzi, Christine Kendrick and Figliozzi, shows that the vehicle shell is the most important factor for in-vehicle exposure, and that closing the air intake vent can reduce exposure considerably.

David Hurwitz of Oregon State University is lead author on a paper that focuses on the so-called “dilemma zone,” the area before an intersection in which a driver must decide whether to brake or continue when presented with a yellow light. The paper, “Evaluation of Effects Associated with Advanced Vehicle Detection Systems on Dilemma-Zone Protection,” showed that advanced sensors can help avoid putting drivers in a position to run red or yellow lights.

“There was a reduction in the worst outcome, red-light running,” Hurwitz said, “and fewer drivers were presented a yellow.” Red-light running actually dropped 70 percent with advanced detection systems.

“We thought it would result in ultimately safer behavior from drivers, and that was confirmed by what we saw,” Hurwitz said.

Click below for a complete list of OTREC-affiliated papers to be presented at the conference by day

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Or click here to download a guide to all three days.

General information on the TRB annual meeting is here: http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting2012/AnnualMeeting2012.aspx

OTREC, a partnership between PSU, the University of Oregon and the Oregon Institute of Technology, will join with the University of Utah to carry out the grant. This award reaffirms OTREC’s evolution into one of the nation’s leading transportation livability research centers and provides the resources to address national problems strategically.

Research and educational programs under the grant will focus on the following topics:

• Improving health and safety for all users
• Increasing the efficiency and understanding of cycling, walking and transit
• Making the best use of data, performance measures and analytical tools
• Integrating multimodal transportation with land use
• Taking long-term action on transportation emissions and climate change.

PSU was one of 63 applicants for 22 grants. The grant competition challenged university transportation center leaders to demonstrate the ability and experience to produce the country’s best transportation research and educational programs. “In five years, OTREC has advanced the state of research on topics such as the connections between transportation and land use; intelligent transportation systems; and bicycle, pedestrian and transit infrastructure,” said OTREC Director Jennifer Dill. “This award recognizes that work while allowing us to focus deeper on pressing national problems.”

“The U.S. Department of Transportation has recognized the incredible work being done by this University Transportation Center,” said U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio. “In 2005, I designated funds in SAFETEA-LU, a federal surface transportation bill, to create this UTC. Since then, this UTC has been on the cutting edge of transportation innovation and advanced research. This grant will continue the UTC’s work to improve the transportation infrastructure which is vital to our economic competitiveness here in Oregon and across the country.”

The grant ensures that Oregon research will continue to guide national transportation decisions, said U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley. “OTREC is an organization that is doing great work around regional planning and creating a vision for our transportation infrastructure’s future,” Merkley said. “This grant will help OTREC continue their important work around livability, environmental sustainability, and safety. I am excited to see the research put forth by the consortium.”

In addition, the grant affirms PSU’s national reputation for integrating livability and sustainability into transportation research and education, university President Wim Wiewel said. “Since its founding in 2006, OTREC has helped solidify Portland State’s status as an elite transportation research institution and boosted our international reputation for leadership in sustainability. I’m thrilled with the new opportunities this grant represents.”

As with current OTREC research, each project under the new grant will require a one-to-one match, doubling the effect of each federal dollar awarded. In recent years, OTREC has worked with nearly 70 partners on projects, including transportation departments, transit districts, metropolitan planning organizations, foundations and private businesses.

Projects under the grant will be awarded competitively and will begin this coming fall. For the first time in this consortium, researchers from the University of Utah can lead projects. “This partnership brings together the best researchers from Oregon and Utah to address the problems that affect us all,” said Associate Professor Keith Bartholomew, UU’s campus leader in the new partnership. “Our expertise in areas such as transit-oriented development and carbon emissions reduction, along with our history of successful and creative public engagement in planning processes, makes our respective states natural partners.”

Information on the USDOT University Transportation Centers program is at http://utc.dot.gov/

More on the grant competition is at http://utc.dot.gov/about/grants_competitions/2011/

Created by Philip Niles in memory of his late wife, Ann, the endowment will bring a speaker each year to address transportation and planning issues for students, faculty and the community. Ann Niles was a strong advocate for livable neighborhoods and served on many transportation-related boards and committees in Portland.

Ann Niles grew up in Grants Pass, Ore., and graduated from Reed College in Portland, where she met Philip. She earned a graduate degree in library science from the University of Minnesota and began her career at the Carleton College library.

Ann and Philip retired in 1999 and returned to Portland. Ann developed a second career in unban development and transportation and worked with the city of Portland and the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. She chaired the Pearl District Transportation Committee for eight years, promoting better sidewalks and crosswalks for pedestrians and better bicycle routes and parking throughout downtown Portland. Ann also represented the Pearl District on the Portland Streetcar Citizens Advisory Committee and the advisory committee for Portland’s transit mall revitalization.

Details on the lecture series, including information on the first lecture, will be released when available.

The event, held Dec. 8, was the second annual competition for STEP. Last year, teams competed to build a gingerbread transit station.

Marriott pointed specifically to the beauty of the Columbia River Highway, built from 1913 to 1922. The highway was called “America’s greatest scenic road” when it was built and attracted pleasure drivers from far away as New York. He praised the State of Oregon’s commitment to preserve the roadway and facilities along the route, acknowledging its past while understanding its present value.
 

Marriott also presented examples of other historic roads from around the United States. The lecture audience was led down such famous roads as Route 66, stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, and the Colonial Parkway, connecting the colonial-era communities of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, Va. In each of these roads, as well as the others he presented, Marriott showed that preservation does not have to come at the expense of functionality, sustainability or safety. He is the author of Saving Historic Roads, Design and Policy Guidelines (John Wiley and Sons, 1998) and From Milestones to Mile-Markers: Understanding Historic Roads (America’s Byways Resource Center/Federal Highway Administration, 2004).

This lecture is the second in the 2011-2012 LiveMove Speaker Series, following the Oct. 20 visit of Ronald Tamse, with the Utrecht, Netherlands traffic department. LiveMove is the OTREC-funded transportation and livability student group at the University of Oregon. LiveMove brings together undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to focus on the planning and design of transportation systems as they relate to community quality of life and livability.

The ninth annual conference drew around 75 people to Portland November 18. The conference showcases student transportation research in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska and is entirely organized and run by students.

This year, the conference also featured breakout sessions and tours with working transportation professionals. Groups visited the Oregon Department of Transportation Region I incident management command center, dug into city of Portland traffic signal systems and operations, toured the city’s bicycle infrastructure and explored the mechanics of Portland’s drawbridges in detail with three bridge lifts.

Portland State University’s student group, Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning, or STEP, hosted the conference, which was sponsored by OTREC. The conference provides plenty of formal and informal opportunities for students working at different universities to inform each other, said Kristi Currans, an organizer with STEP.

“My favorite part is just having all the students get together and find out all the research everyone is doing,” Currans said. “Even within Portland State, if people are working for different professors, I might not know what they’re working on.”

The conference drew students from Portland State, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Oregon Institute of Technology and the University of Portland. The annual Oregon Institute of Transportation Engineers’ William C. Kloos Traffic Bowl, held the previous evening, also drew a team from the University of Washington. Oregon State’s team finished first in the Traffic Bowl, a Jeopardy-style tournament testing students’ knowledge of transportation engineering, history and trivia.

At the conference, University of Oregon planning graduate student Cortney Mild was named OTREC student of the year. Mild will be honored alongside other U.S. DOT university transportation center students of the year at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board January in Washington, D.C.

Portland State has hosted the conference two previous times, in 2004 and 2007. Oregon State hosted in 2010 and the University of Oregon hosted in 2009. The University of Washington hosted in 2003 and 2008.

Each year, Sustainable City Year channels the resources of courses across disciplines to serve a single city for an entire academic year. Students gain invaluable experience working directly with city staffs on real-world projects. The cities gain the resources to take on needed projects that would never see the light of day without the program.

In Salem, the program encompassed 28 courses, 25 faculty members on two campuses, 10 disciplines and more than 500 students and 80,000 hours. The Springfield partnership is expected to involve more than 400 students and 20 faculty members. Projects will involve Springfield city staff from several departments and participation from the Springfield Utility Board, Willamalane Park and Recreation District, Metro Wastewater Management Commission, United Way, the Springfield school district and other community organizations. Projects include:

• Addressing the needs of the Laura Street neighborhood, pinned between a busy transportation corridor, commercial center and warehouse district.
• Updating Springfield’s Bike-Pedestrian Plan and creating a bike-path connectivity plan for incorporation into future citywide plans.
• Updating the Glenwood Refinement Plan with design standards, historic preservation recommendations and city code revisions.
• Redevelopment concepts for the Mohawk-area Waremart property.
• Helping achieve a National Landmark designation for the Dorris Ranch Living History Farm.
• Concepts to redevelop the Booth Kelly Center, which includes 17 acres and more than 200,000 square feet of industrial business space.

Nearly 200 people attended the kickoff, including U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, state and local leaders, and University of Oregon faculty and students.

More information on Sustainable City Year is available at http://sci.uoregon.edu/content/scy. Program Manager Chris Jones is at 541-346-6395 or jonesey@uoregon.edu.