The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium recently was awarded a $3.5 million transportation sustainability grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At the very least, the grant enables the OTREC to continue to operate for two more years. OTREC is a national University Transportation Center that partners Portland State University with the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology.
The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium recently was awarded a $3.5 million transportation sustainability grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At the very least, the grant enables the OTREC to continue to operate for two more years. OTREC is a national University Transportation Center that partners Portland State University with the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology.
Sixty-three of the UTC programs across the nation competed for consortia grants from the USDOT, which awarded 22 of the programs $3.5 million grants.
OTREC is a relatively new venture. It was established just more than five years ago as part of the 2006 Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act. U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) was successful in his efforts to establish a UTC at PSU, which later became OTREC. Under the act, 59 transportation centers were created and granted five years of funding; OTREC was facing the last of that five-year funding before receiving this latest grant.
Congress wanted to change the program, eliminating 37 of the 59 transportation centers and focusing each of the remaining 22 centers on specific issues. They held a competition for those 22 spots and issued a request for proposals; existing centers had to either win the competition or effectively shut down.
Jennifer Dill is the director of OTREC and an associate professor of urban planning at PSU. She was instrumental in the OTREC proposal as well as in the work that OTREC has done for the past five years.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Dill said of winning the grant. “I think it reflects the work we’ve been doing at PSU. All the transportation work being done on this campus and partner campuses—the grant will allow us to continue the work that OTREC is doing, as well as student fellowships and activities.
“There are some major universities that have had these centers in the past—and have had them for many years—who didn’t make it,” Dill said.
Though the grant is technically for one fiscal year of funding, OTREC is allowed to extend it to cover two. After that, the future is uncertain.
“We are waiting to see what Congress does with the new transportation bill,” Dill said. “There is a senate bill out there that has another version of the program; there is a question on whether or not we will have to compete on future funding. We are always looking at other grants and projects, aside from this program.
“With only one year of funding there are certain types of research types we can’t commit to,” Dill said. “It is hard to start a big new program knowing that it may only be supported for two years. There are some things we may not initiate until we have a better sense of what Congress is going to do. But there certainly are a lot of projects that our faculty can accomplish in that [two-year] time frame.”
Peter Koonce is the manager of the traffic signals and street lighting for the Portland Bureau of Transportation. He has worked with OTREC staff on a litany of projects, the most recent of which being the evaluation of bicycle signals as a traffic control device.
“The work that OTREC is doing is consistent with the city’s goals of becoming a more sustainable city,” Koonce said. “The grant from the USDOT will support the efforts of researchers at Portland State in evaluating traffic control devices and other important topics that will improve the safety and livability of our community.”
The buzz from OTREC’s win carried through the state as representatives weighed in on what it means to have Oregon remain at the table in the national conversation about sustainability practice. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), in a statement for OTREC’s press release, said that Oregon research would continue to guide national transportation decisions.
“OTREC is an organization that is doing great work around regional planning and creating a vision for our transportation infrastructure’s future,” Merkley said.
Dill echoed those sentiments as she looked forward.
“The category center we won is supposed to be national in scope,” she said. “We’re hoping to take the things we’re learning in Oregon and apply it nationally.”
Oregon, Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology.
Jennifer Dill is the director of OTREC and an associate professor of urban planning at PSU. She was instrumental in the OTREC proposal as well as in the work that OTREC has done for the past five years.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Dill said of winning the grant. “I think it reflects the work we’ve been doing at PSU. All the transportation work being done on this campus and partner campuses—the grant will allow us to continue the work that OTREC is doing, as well as student fellowships and activities.
Sixty-three of the UTC programs across the nation competed for consortia grants from the USDOT, which awarded 22 of the programs $3.5 million grants.
OTREC is a relatively new venture. It was established just more than five years ago as part of the 2006 Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act. U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) was successful in his efforts to establish a UTC at PSU, which later became OTREC. Under the act, 59 transportation centers were created and granted five years of funding; OTREC was facing the last of that five-year funding before receiving this latest grant.
Congress wanted to change the program, eliminating 37 of the 59 transportation centers and focusing each of the remaining 22 centers on specific issues. They held a competition for those 22 spots and issued a request for proposals; existing centers had to either win the competition or effectively shut down.
“There are some major universities that have had these centers in the past—and have had them for many years—who didn’t make it,” Dill said.
Though the grant is technically for one fiscal year of funding, OTREC is allowed to extend it to cover two. After that, the future is uncertain.
“We are waiting to see what Congress does with the new transportation bill,” Dill said. “There is a senate bill out there that has another version of the program; there is a question on whether or not we will have to compete on future funding. We are always looking at other grants and projects, aside from this program.”
Until there are more concrete answers to what Congress plans to do with the transportation bill, the OTREC will not be initiating any long-term projects.
“With only one year of funding there are certain types of research types we can’t commit to,” Dill said. “It is hard to start a big new program knowing that it may only be supported for two years. But there certainly are a lot of projects that our faculty can accomplish in that [two-year] time frame.”
Peter Koonce is the manager of the traffic signals and street lighting for the Portland Bureau of Transportation. He has worked with OTREC staff on a litany of projects, the most recent of which being the evaluation of bicycle signals as a traffic control device.
“The work that OTREC is doing is consistent with the city’s goals of becoming a more sustainable city,” Koonce said. “The grant from the USDOT will support the efforts of researchers at Portland State in evaluating traffic control devices and other important topics that will improve the safety and livability of our community.”
The buzz from OTREC’s win carried through the state as representatives weighed in on what it means to have Oregon remain at the table in the national conversation about sustainability practice. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), in a statement for OTREC’s press release, said that Oregon research would continue to guide national transportation decisions.
“OTREC is an organization that is doing great work around regional planning and creating a vision for our transportation infrastructure’s future,” Merkley said.
Dill echoed those sentiments as she looked forward.
“The category center we won is supposed to be national in scope,” she said. “We’re hoping to take the things we’re learning in Oregon and apply it nationally.”
