News Tagged: Otrec
19 Entries Tagged
It’s the frequency: transit expert Jarrett Walker shares insight in three talks
For transit planning expert Jarrett Walker, one of the fundamentals of transit is also one of the hardest points for people to figure out: you can’t make good transit-system decisions from behind the wheel of a car.
“If you’re a habitual motorist, it doesn’t matter how much you support transit, there are certain things about it you’re not likely to get,” Walker said. “One the most basic, if you’re a motorist or a cyclist for that matter, you’re going to appreciate the concept of speed but not the concept of frequency.
“In urban transit, frequency is vastly more important than speed in determining how soon you get where you're going.”
Walker, the author of “Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities And Our Lives,” presents his work at three OTREC-sponsored forums in Eugene and Portland May 16-18. Click here for more information on the presentations and Walker.
While driving or cycling faster typically means arriving earlier, slow transit vehicles that run often will get you to your destination sooner than fast, infrequent ones, Walker said. “It’s very difficult to get motorists to understand that importance. I tell them to imagine a gate at the end of your driveway that only opens once every half an hour.”
Tags: bus, bus rapid transit, human transit, jarrett walker, light rail, otrec, planning, portland, transit, transit planning, trimet
Report: Climate change adds $20,000 or more to annual flooding costs along urban creeks
Note: This article is the first in a series on OTREC reports that examining the intersection of climate change and transportation. We’ll continue with articles on other topics, including a regionwide impact assessment of climate change effects on transportation and a narrow focus on the effects on public transit.
Of all effects of the climate on transportation, the most costly results from flooding in cities. Flooding disrupts urban life, causing expensive repairs, delays and hazards to address. In the Pacific Northwest, these effects are projected to worsen as human-caused global warming brings wetter weather and higher water tables.
Despite these projections, little research had focused on the effects of increased flooding on the transportation system and how those effects could be lessened. OTREC opened the door to this area of research with a project called Future Flooding Impacts on Transportation Infrastructure and Traffic Patterns Resulting from Climate Change. The final report is available to download here.
The project brought together scholars from Portland State University in the disciplines of geography, civil and environmental engineering, and urban studies and planning with officials from regional government Metro. The researchers also included regional stakeholders invested in their communities and watersheds to guide the project.
Tags: cllimate change, cost analysis, david ruelas, deena platman, fanno creek, flooding, global warming, heejun chang, il-won jung, johnson creek, martin lafrenz, metro, miguel figliozzi, otrec, portland, rolando melgoza, urban flooding
Special seminar series opens with practical advice on transportation modeling
Transportation models keep growing more sophisticated. But complicated isn’t necessarily better, Rick Donnelly said during the inaugural seminar in OTREC’s spring 2012 transportation seminar series April 6.
“Better is contextual,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly, who leads the modeling and simulation practice at engineering consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff, opened the spring seminar series with an introduction to models. Seven more free seminars follow in the series, produced in partnership with the Oregon Modeling Collaborative.
Donnelly detailed questions that model builders and users should ask and offered his thoughts on building more useful and informative models. Click here for a link to the archived presentation.
Although transportation models consider increasingly more information, simpler models can often get the job done with a smaller investment of time and money, Donnelly said. Sometimes the simplest approach actually produces the best results.
“’Better’ is only relevant in the context of what the model is going to be used for,” he said.
The modeling series continues Friday, April 13 with another seminar geared toward non-modelers. The seminar, by Ben Stabler, also of Parsons Brinckerhoff, builds on Donnelly’s opening installment.
Stabler will discuss two approaches to travel modeling and give examples of each approach. Click here for more details on Stabler’s talk and a link to the live Webcast.
All seminars in the series are free and run from noon to 1 p.m. Fridays at Portland State University’s Urban Center, Southwest Sixth Avenue and Mill Street, Room 204. Each seminar is Webcast live and archived after the fact.
More information on the series, including links to live and archived presentations, is at http://otrec.us/events.
Tags: modeling, models, oregon modeling collaborative, otrec, parsons brinckerhoff, rick donnelly, transportation modeling, transportation models
Workforce summit draws attention to a different transportation employment crisis
With persistently high unemployment, it’s hard to imagine that having too many available transportation jobs constitutes a workforce crisis. But with many local agencies expecting half or more of their employees to be eligible for retirement within five years, that crisis looms.
Against this backdrop, 35 transportation leaders from Portland-area agencies met March 20 for a roundtable discussion of workforce challenges. Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith co-chaired the meeting, which included participants from organizations that train and educate as well as those that hire transportation workers.
The group agreed that a skills gap exists: there are plenty of people available to fill future vacancies but overwhelmingly they lack the specialized skills. Welding provides one example. The demand for skilled welders far exceeds the supply. In response, Portland Community College is working to expand its training program in that area.
Elsewhere, the region’s economic plan calls for doubling exports. But if that happens, port operators will face an even bigger struggle to find workers with maritime experience or mastery of specialized software.
Returning military veterans often present a different problem: they have the skills but don’t necessarily have the proper certification. For example, many veterans have extensive experience driving large trucks but lack the commercial driver’s license required to work as a civilian truck driver. Certified drivers are already in high demand and veterans could help meet this need by entering the transportation workforce.
Tags: cutc, loretta smith, otrec, portland community college, sam adams, skilled trades, transportation workforce, veterans
Conference-goers bring TRB back to Portland
On Feb. 21, OTREC joined with the Portland State University Students in Transportation and Planning (STEP) and the Portland-area News Rail~Volutionaries to host a debrief of January’s annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington DC. Portland was well represented at the TRB meeting with a diverse array of students, faculty, and transportation professionals, and this event brought many of those attendees together at the Lucky Labrador pub in northwest Portland to share stories and lessons learned.
For students, the gathering presented an opportunity to showcase the research they presented TRB. Posters lined the room and many attendees donned buttons bearing the enthusiastic encouragement, “Ask me about TRB!” Built-in icebreakers ensured lively discussions about current issues and research in transportation.
Those who did not get to attend TRB were able to experience a little taste of it in Portland, as those who did go had no shortage of tales about the biggest annual gathering of transportation professionals.
STEP members in attendance took advantage opportunity to network with potential future employers and coworkers. To aid the soon-to-be graduates in their job hunts, STEP has created a LinkedIn group containing the profiles and resumes of many STEP members.
Tags: brian davis, otrec, step, transportation research board, trb
Archives
Categories
Filter By University
- Portland State University
- University of Oregon
- Oregon State University
- Oregon Institute of Technology
OTREC's Most Used Tags
alex bigazzi bicycle bicycle infrastructure bicycling chris monsere cutc design electric vehicles hau hagedorn hiring ibpi its lab jennifer dill john macarthur karen dixon kelly clifton kristin tufte livability livemove marc schlossberg meeting miguel figliozzi newsletter nico larco oregon department of transportation oregon transportation summit otrec peter dusicka portland portland state university proposals public transportation region x region x consortium rfp rita robert bertini roger lindgren sam adams step sustainable cities initiative transit transportation modeling transportation research board trb trimet utc visiting scholar program visiting scholars program walking