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• 1. [Article] Parking Infrastructure: A Constraint on or Opportunity for Urban Redevelopment?

  Many cities have adopted minimum parking requirements, but we have relatively poor information about how parking infrastructure has grown. In this research, using building and roadway growth models, we ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Parking Infrastructure: A Constraint on or Opportunity for Urban Redevelopment? Author: Chester, Mikhail Year: 2016 Many cities have adopted minimum parking requirements, but we have relatively poor information about how parking infrastructure has grown. In this research, using building and roadway growth models, we estimate how parking has grown in Los Angeles County from 1900 to 2010, and how parking infrastructure evolves, affects urban form, and relates to changes in automobile travel. We find that since 1975, the ratio of residential offstreet parking spaces to automobiles in Los Angeles County is close to 1.0 and the greatest density of parking spaces is in the urban core. Most new growth in parking occurs outside of the core. 14% of incorporated land in Los Angeles County is committed to parking. Uncertainty in our space inventory is attributed to our building growth model, onstreet space length, and the assumption that parking spaces were created as per the requirements. The continued use of minimum parking requirements is likely to encourage automobile use at a time when metropolitan areas are actively seeking to manage congestion and increase transit use, biking, and walking. Widely discussed ways to reform parking policies may be less than effective if planners do not consider the remaining incentives to auto use created by the existing parking infrastructure. Planners should encourage the conversion of existing parking facilities to alternative uses. Title: Parking Infrastructure: A Constraint on or Opportunity for Urban Redevelopment? Author: Chester, Mikhail Year: 2016 Many cities have adopted minimum parking requirements, but we have relatively poor information about how parking infrastructure has grown. In this research, using building and roadway growth models, we estimate how parking has grown in Los Angeles County from 1900 to 2010, and how parking infrastructure evolves, affects urban form, and relates to changes in automobile travel. We find that since 1975, the ratio of residential offstreet parking spaces to automobiles in Los Angeles County is close to 1.0 and the greatest density of parking spaces is in the urban core. Most new growth in parking occurs outside of the core. 14% of incorporated land in Los Angeles County is committed to parking. Uncertainty in our space inventory is attributed to our building growth model, onstreet space length, and the assumption that parking spaces were created as per the requirements. The continued use of minimum parking requirements is likely to encourage automobile use at a time when metropolitan areas are actively seeking to manage congestion and increase transit use, biking, and walking. Widely discussed ways to reform parking policies may be less than effective if planners do not consider the remaining incentives to auto use created by the existing parking infrastructure. Planners should encourage the conversion of existing parking facilities to alternative uses. Close

• 2. [Article] Using Multimodal Performance Measures to Prioritize Improvements on US 101 in San Luis Obispo County

  The US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan in San Luis Obispo was a two-year planning effort that evaluated the 70 mile corridor on 12 performance measures. This collaborative effort was led by the San Luis ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Using Multimodal Performance Measures to Prioritize Improvements on US 101 in San Luis Obispo County Author: Berry, Jessica Year: 2015 The US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan in San Luis Obispo was a two-year planning effort that evaluated the 70 mile corridor on 12 performance measures. This collaborative effort was led by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG). Performance based planning is becoming more important for agencies receiving State and Federal funding. Smaller, rural regional agencies will have to find ways to collect, report, and use performance metrics with limited resources. SLOCOG's first performance-based planning effort was the US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan, funded through a State grant. Funding for this project came from a Partnership Planning Grant awarded by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) along with SLOCOG matching funds. The study team — made up of staff from 6 cities, the county, SLOCOG, Caltrans, the Air Pollution Control District, and the Regional Transit Authortiy — evaluated the corridor using 12 performance metrics and input from the public. 140 project alternatives were evaluated on several measures of effectiveness to determine which improvements were more beneficial to the corridor. SLOCOG used the results of this study to both plan for and fund improvements on US 101 through the Regional Transportation Plan and programming documents. Title: Using Multimodal Performance Measures to Prioritize Improvements on US 101 in San Luis Obispo County Author: Berry, Jessica Year: 2015 The US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan in San Luis Obispo was a two-year planning effort that evaluated the 70 mile corridor on 12 performance measures. This collaborative effort was led by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG). Performance based planning is becoming more important for agencies receiving State and Federal funding. Smaller, rural regional agencies will have to find ways to collect, report, and use performance metrics with limited resources. SLOCOG's first performance-based planning effort was the US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan, funded through a State grant. Funding for this project came from a Partnership Planning Grant awarded by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) along with SLOCOG matching funds. The study team — made up of staff from 6 cities, the county, SLOCOG, Caltrans, the Air Pollution Control District, and the Regional Transit Authortiy — evaluated the corridor using 12 performance metrics and input from the public. 140 project alternatives were evaluated on several measures of effectiveness to determine which improvements were more beneficial to the corridor. SLOCOG used the results of this study to both plan for and fund improvements on US 101 through the Regional Transportation Plan and programming documents. Close

• 3. [Article] Utilizing High-Resolution Archived Transit Data to Study Before-and-After Travel-Speed and Travel-Time Conditions

  Travel times, operating speeds, and service reliability influence costs and service attractiveness. This research outlines an approach to quantify how these metrics change after a modification of roadway ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Utilizing High-Resolution Archived Transit Data to Study Before-and-After Travel-Speed and Travel-Time Conditions Author: Glick, Travis B Year: 2017 Travel times, operating speeds, and service reliability influence costs and service attractiveness. This research outlines an approach to quantify how these metrics change after a modification of roadway design or transit routes using archived transit data. The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), Portland’s public transportation provider, archives automatic vehicle location (AVL) data for all buses as part of their bus dispatch system (BDS). This research combines three types of AVL data (stop event, stop disturbance, and high-resolution) to create a detailed account of transit behavior; this probe data gives insights into the behavior of transit as well as general traffic. The methodology also includes an updated approach for confidence intervals estimates that more accurately represent of range of speed and travel time percentile estimates. This methodology is applied to three test cases using a month of AVL data collected before and after the implementation of each roadway change. The results of the test cases highlight the broad applicability for this approach to before-and-after studies. Title: Utilizing High-Resolution Archived Transit Data to Study Before-and-After Travel-Speed and Travel-Time Conditions Author: Glick, Travis B Year: 2017 Travel times, operating speeds, and service reliability influence costs and service attractiveness. This research outlines an approach to quantify how these metrics change after a modification of roadway design or transit routes using archived transit data. The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), Portland’s public transportation provider, archives automatic vehicle location (AVL) data for all buses as part of their bus dispatch system (BDS). This research combines three types of AVL data (stop event, stop disturbance, and high-resolution) to create a detailed account of transit behavior; this probe data gives insights into the behavior of transit as well as general traffic. The methodology also includes an updated approach for confidence intervals estimates that more accurately represent of range of speed and travel time percentile estimates. This methodology is applied to three test cases using a month of AVL data collected before and after the implementation of each roadway change. The results of the test cases highlight the broad applicability for this approach to before-and-after studies. Close

• 4. [Article] 2014 Transit Oriented Developments Survey

  This report presents results from surveys of residents at several transit-oriented developments (TODs) in Portland, Hillsboro, Tigard, and unincorporated Clackamas County. The research complements our ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: 2014 Transit Oriented Developments Survey Author: Dill, Jennifer, McNeil, Nathan Year: 2015 This report presents results from surveys of residents at several transit-oriented developments (TODs) in Portland, Hillsboro, Tigard, and unincorporated Clackamas County. The research complements our previous survey work for Metro done at eight TODs in 2010 and 11 TODs in 2007. Title: 2014 Transit Oriented Developments Survey Author: Dill, Jennifer, McNeil, Nathan Year: 2015 This report presents results from surveys of residents at several transit-oriented developments (TODs) in Portland, Hillsboro, Tigard, and unincorporated Clackamas County. The research complements our previous survey work for Metro done at eight TODs in 2010 and 11 TODs in 2007. Close

• 5. [Article] How Livable is Your Transit System?

  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has identified some “livability principles” which include healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods and safe, reliable and economical transportation ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: How Livable is Your Transit System? Author: Schlossberg, Marc Year: 2014 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has identified some “livability principles” which include healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods and safe, reliable and economical transportation choices. Transit agencies and local governments routinely use metrics to evaluate the performance of transit systems, but a uniform standard of transit data collection does not exist outside of the reporting requirements of the National Transit Database (NTD). Because of the types of data collected for the NTD, the focus of performance measurements is often on ridership and financial performance, leaving aside the question of livability. In an OTREC-sponsored project, principal investigator Marc Schlossberg of the University of Oregon, along with co-investigators Jennifer Dill of Portland State University and Nico Larco, also of the University of Oregon, set out to create a set of tested and refined performance indicators that transit agencies across the nation can use to evaluate and improve their system performance in relation to livability goals. Title: How Livable is Your Transit System? Author: Schlossberg, Marc Year: 2014 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has identified some “livability principles” which include healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods and safe, reliable and economical transportation choices. Transit agencies and local governments routinely use metrics to evaluate the performance of transit systems, but a uniform standard of transit data collection does not exist outside of the reporting requirements of the National Transit Database (NTD). Because of the types of data collected for the NTD, the focus of performance measurements is often on ridership and financial performance, leaving aside the question of livability. In an OTREC-sponsored project, principal investigator Marc Schlossberg of the University of Oregon, along with co-investigators Jennifer Dill of Portland State University and Nico Larco, also of the University of Oregon, set out to create a set of tested and refined performance indicators that transit agencies across the nation can use to evaluate and improve their system performance in relation to livability goals. Close

• 6. [Article] Aspirational Planning: A Statistical Model of Hawthorne Bridge and Tilikum Crossing Bicycle Ride Counts

  Portland city planners have routinely planned for an increase in bicycle commutership and a decrease in automobile commutership. This paper discusses the latest data on Portland car and bicycle use. Portland ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Aspirational Planning: A Statistical Model of Hawthorne Bridge and Tilikum Crossing Bicycle Ride Counts Author: McCullough, Robert, Cabauatan, Ramon, Gellman, Jacob Year: 2016 Portland city planners have routinely planned for an increase in bicycle commutership and a decrease in automobile commutership. This paper discusses the latest data on Portland car and bicycle use. Portland and Multnomah County are observing an increase in single occupancy vehicle commuters, car ownership, and gasoline consumption. Bicycle use in Portland is found to have followed a logistic curve pattern since the early 1990s. The authors present an ordinary least squares model to explain bicycle ridership on the Hawthorne Bridge and the recently constructed Tilikum Crossing. When controlling for other factors such as weather and daylight, the Tilikum Crossing has added an average of 1,137 bicycle rides per day to total east-west rides across the Willamette River, some of which are diverted from the Hawthorne Bridge. Title: Aspirational Planning: A Statistical Model of Hawthorne Bridge and Tilikum Crossing Bicycle Ride Counts Author: McCullough, Robert, Cabauatan, Ramon, Gellman, Jacob Year: 2016 Portland city planners have routinely planned for an increase in bicycle commutership and a decrease in automobile commutership. This paper discusses the latest data on Portland car and bicycle use. Portland and Multnomah County are observing an increase in single occupancy vehicle commuters, car ownership, and gasoline consumption. Bicycle use in Portland is found to have followed a logistic curve pattern since the early 1990s. The authors present an ordinary least squares model to explain bicycle ridership on the Hawthorne Bridge and the recently constructed Tilikum Crossing. When controlling for other factors such as weather and daylight, the Tilikum Crossing has added an average of 1,137 bicycle rides per day to total east-west rides across the Willamette River, some of which are diverted from the Hawthorne Bridge. Close

• 7. [Article] Estimating Reliability Indices and Confidence Intervals for Transit and Traffic at the Corridor Level

  As congestion worsens, the importance of rigorous methodologies to estimate travel-time reliability increases. Exploiting fine-granularity transit GPS data, this research proposes a novel method to estimate ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Estimating Reliability Indices and Confidence Intervals for Transit and Traffic at the Corridor Level Author: Glick, Travis B Year: 2017 As congestion worsens, the importance of rigorous methodologies to estimate travel-time reliability increases. Exploiting fine-granularity transit GPS data, this research proposes a novel method to estimate travel-time percentiles and confidence intervals. Novel transit reliability measures based on travel-time percentiles are proposed to identify and rank low-performance hotspots; the proposed reliability measures can be utilized to distinguish peak-hour low performance from whole-day low performance. As a case study, the methodology is applied to a bus transit corridor in Portland, Oregon. Time-space speed profiles, heatmaps, and visualizations are employed to highlight sections and intersections with high travel-time variability and transit low performance. Segment and intersection travel-time reliability are contrasted against analytical delay formulas at intersections with positive results. If bus stop delays are removed, this methodology can also be applied to estimate regular traffic travel-time variability. Title: Estimating Reliability Indices and Confidence Intervals for Transit and Traffic at the Corridor Level Author: Glick, Travis B Year: 2017 As congestion worsens, the importance of rigorous methodologies to estimate travel-time reliability increases. Exploiting fine-granularity transit GPS data, this research proposes a novel method to estimate travel-time percentiles and confidence intervals. Novel transit reliability measures based on travel-time percentiles are proposed to identify and rank low-performance hotspots; the proposed reliability measures can be utilized to distinguish peak-hour low performance from whole-day low performance. As a case study, the methodology is applied to a bus transit corridor in Portland, Oregon. Time-space speed profiles, heatmaps, and visualizations are employed to highlight sections and intersections with high travel-time variability and transit low performance. Segment and intersection travel-time reliability are contrasted against analytical delay formulas at intersections with positive results. If bus stop delays are removed, this methodology can also be applied to estimate regular traffic travel-time variability. Close

• 8. [Article] Estimating Walking and Bicycling at the State Level

  Estimates of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) drive policy and planning decisions for surface transportation. No similar metric is computed for cycling and walking. What approaches could be used to compute ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Estimating Walking and Bicycling at the State Level Author: Nordback, Krista, Sellinger, Mike, Phillips, Taylor Year: 2017 Estimates of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) drive policy and planning decisions for surface transportation. No similar metric is computed for cycling and walking. What approaches could be used to compute such a metric on the state level? This report discusses three such approaches, identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each, and applies them to Washington State. The first approach employs travel survey data. The second approach is sample-based using pedestrian and bicycle count data. The third approach is an aggregate demand model approach using demographic data combined with count data. Due to data limitations, none of these methods could be properly implemented on the statewide level. Despite the data limits, the methods were implemented for one county (King County) in order to compare findings. The travel survey method estimated the lowest bicycle and pedestrian miles traveled (BMT and PMT), and the sample-based method estimated the highest. The travel survey method is useful for a statewide measure, but it does not provide the detail needed for facility-level estimates. For bicyclists, the sample-based method is appropriate if volumes are desired at the facility level. For pedestrians, the aggregate model might be more appropriate, because of the more dispersed nature of pedestrian travel. Each method has strengths and weaknesses, and each helps us understand bicycle and pedestrian travel in different ways. For this reason, the project team recommends improving both statewide travel survey data and pedestrian and cyclist traffic count data which feed these methods. Travel survey data should be collected statewide with oversampling for non-motorized travelers. Pedestrian and cyclist traffic counts should be expanded to include a continuous counting program in addition to the short-duration count program. After the continuous count program is in place, short-duration counts should be chosen using a stratified random sampling approach. For example, the sampling frame could consist of all road and path segments in the state divided by region (Coast Range, Puget Lowland, Cascades, Eastern Washington), by urbanity (rural, urban), by facility type (highways/arterials, local/collector roads, paths), and by whether the location is on a bridge or not. To increase sites sampled, the short-duration count program could also be rotated, with each location being counted every three years instead of every year. Better data will allow the state to quantify bicycling and walking at both the state level and facility level to inform decision-making, facility design and planning, and safety analysis. Title: Estimating Walking and Bicycling at the State Level Author: Nordback, Krista, Sellinger, Mike, Phillips, Taylor Year: 2017 Estimates of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) drive policy and planning decisions for surface transportation. No similar metric is computed for cycling and walking. What approaches could be used to compute such a metric on the state level? This report discusses three such approaches, identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each, and applies them to Washington State. The first approach employs travel survey data. The second approach is sample-based using pedestrian and bicycle count data. The third approach is an aggregate demand model approach using demographic data combined with count data. Due to data limitations, none of these methods could be properly implemented on the statewide level. Despite the data limits, the methods were implemented for one county (King County) in order to compare findings. The travel survey method estimated the lowest bicycle and pedestrian miles traveled (BMT and PMT), and the sample-based method estimated the highest. The travel survey method is useful for a statewide measure, but it does not provide the detail needed for facility-level estimates. For bicyclists, the sample-based method is appropriate if volumes are desired at the facility level. For pedestrians, the aggregate model might be more appropriate, because of the more dispersed nature of pedestrian travel. Each method has strengths and weaknesses, and each helps us understand bicycle and pedestrian travel in different ways. For this reason, the project team recommends improving both statewide travel survey data and pedestrian and cyclist traffic count data which feed these methods. Travel survey data should be collected statewide with oversampling for non-motorized travelers. Pedestrian and cyclist traffic counts should be expanded to include a continuous counting program in addition to the short-duration count program. After the continuous count program is in place, short-duration counts should be chosen using a stratified random sampling approach. For example, the sampling frame could consist of all road and path segments in the state divided by region (Coast Range, Puget Lowland, Cascades, Eastern Washington), by urbanity (rural, urban), by facility type (highways/arterials, local/collector roads, paths), and by whether the location is on a bridge or not. To increase sites sampled, the short-duration count program could also be rotated, with each location being counted every three years instead of every year. Better data will allow the state to quantify bicycling and walking at both the state level and facility level to inform decision-making, facility design and planning, and safety analysis. Close

• 9. [Article] Continuous Data Integration for Land Use and Transportation Planning and Modeling

  There is an urgent need for improved models that address the interdependencies between land use and transportation, and considerable new work is underway to develop such models in Oregon and elsewhere. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Continuous Data Integration for Land Use and Transportation Planning and Modeling Author: Wang, Liming, Kim, Kihong Year: 2014 There is an urgent need for improved models that address the interdependencies between land use and transportation, and considerable new work is underway to develop such models in Oregon and elsewhere. These models and planning practices to integrate land use into the process, however, require the integration of massive amounts of land use data that is messy and incomplete. There have been considerable advances in the treatment of such data problems in other domains, drawing on data mining and machine-learning techniques to address issues in various domains. To date, however, little systematic effort has applied these technological advances to the problem domain of land use and transportation data. Experience suggests that as much as 70% of the total effort in developing integrated land use and transportation models is directly or indirectly associated with data development, integration and cleaning, yet there is remarkably little systematic research focused on the development of reusable methods and tools to support this problem domain. In coordination with an ongoing project of similar theme funded by University of California Transportation Center (UCTC), this project will focus on bringing interdisciplinary methods to develop land use datasets for integrated land use and transportation planning and modeling, with special attention on preserving temporal dimension of the data and monitoring data quality through indicators. Utilizing statistics and machine-learning techniques, we will develop reusable tools that will create a harmonized and coherent land use database from various public and private sources. These tools will be made available to the public and can be used by cities, counties, metropolitan planning agencies, state agencies, universities or anyone else needing to develop a usable database for use in integrated planning and modeling. All of the resulting data, with the exception of proprietary or confidential input data where there is no viable alternative, would be public and reusable for planning and research. Title: Continuous Data Integration for Land Use and Transportation Planning and Modeling Author: Wang, Liming, Kim, Kihong Year: 2014 There is an urgent need for improved models that address the interdependencies between land use and transportation, and considerable new work is underway to develop such models in Oregon and elsewhere. These models and planning practices to integrate land use into the process, however, require the integration of massive amounts of land use data that is messy and incomplete. There have been considerable advances in the treatment of such data problems in other domains, drawing on data mining and machine-learning techniques to address issues in various domains. To date, however, little systematic effort has applied these technological advances to the problem domain of land use and transportation data. Experience suggests that as much as 70% of the total effort in developing integrated land use and transportation models is directly or indirectly associated with data development, integration and cleaning, yet there is remarkably little systematic research focused on the development of reusable methods and tools to support this problem domain. In coordination with an ongoing project of similar theme funded by University of California Transportation Center (UCTC), this project will focus on bringing interdisciplinary methods to develop land use datasets for integrated land use and transportation planning and modeling, with special attention on preserving temporal dimension of the data and monitoring data quality through indicators. Utilizing statistics and machine-learning techniques, we will develop reusable tools that will create a harmonized and coherent land use database from various public and private sources. These tools will be made available to the public and can be used by cities, counties, metropolitan planning agencies, state agencies, universities or anyone else needing to develop a usable database for use in integrated planning and modeling. All of the resulting data, with the exception of proprietary or confidential input data where there is no viable alternative, would be public and reusable for planning and research. Close

• 10. [Article] Evaluating the Planning and Implementation of Major Transit Capital Projects in the Portland Region

  The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) discretionary New Starts program is the federal government's largest discretionary funding program. From heavy to light rail, from commuter rail to bus rapid ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Evaluating the Planning and Implementation of Major Transit Capital Projects in the Portland Region Author: Recker, Joseph Year: 2014 The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) discretionary New Starts program is the federal government's largest discretionary funding program. From heavy to light rail, from commuter rail to bus rapid transit systems, the FTA's New Starts program has helped to make possible hundreds of new or extended transit fixed guideway systems across the country, including most of TriMet’s light rail extensions and WES commuter rail. Beginning in 2001, FTA has required project sponsors to prepare a Before and After Study report on the effectiveness of planning and implementation of New Starts and Small Starts projects. The studies focus on five transit characteristics – project scope, capital costs, operating and maintenance costs, service levels, and ridership behavior – and compares these characteristics at various planning milestones, as well as before and after implementation of the project. TriMet, in conjunction with FTA, has completed or nearly completed Before and After Study reports for three projects – Interstate MAX, WES Commuter Rail, and the Green Line – and is in the process of working on two more. This presentation will briefly describe the federal New Starts program, FTA requirements for Before and After Studies, summarize findings from the three TriMet studies and provide comparisons with other completed New Starts projects across the U.S. Title: Evaluating the Planning and Implementation of Major Transit Capital Projects in the Portland Region Author: Recker, Joseph Year: 2014 The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) discretionary New Starts program is the federal government's largest discretionary funding program. From heavy to light rail, from commuter rail to bus rapid transit systems, the FTA's New Starts program has helped to make possible hundreds of new or extended transit fixed guideway systems across the country, including most of TriMet’s light rail extensions and WES commuter rail. Beginning in 2001, FTA has required project sponsors to prepare a Before and After Study report on the effectiveness of planning and implementation of New Starts and Small Starts projects. The studies focus on five transit characteristics – project scope, capital costs, operating and maintenance costs, service levels, and ridership behavior – and compares these characteristics at various planning milestones, as well as before and after implementation of the project. TriMet, in conjunction with FTA, has completed or nearly completed Before and After Study reports for three projects – Interstate MAX, WES Commuter Rail, and the Green Line – and is in the process of working on two more. This presentation will briefly describe the federal New Starts program, FTA requirements for Before and After Studies, summarize findings from the three TriMet studies and provide comparisons with other completed New Starts projects across the U.S. Close