Jason C. Anderson

Portland State University | PSU · Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The report is organized into ten chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview and lays out the objectives of the research. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 cover the state of the practice (i.e., Literature Review, Summary of Design Guidelines, Practitioner Interviews). Chapters 5 through 9 include the research methods and findings beginning with Site Selection, fo...

This study examined the relationship between the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic and the severity of injuries sustained by drivers involved in run-off-road (ROR) crashes. A random parameter ordered logit (RPOL) modeling framework was utilized to account for the ordinal nature of severity outcome and capture the potential unobserved heterogene...

This paper presents a framework for improving older pedestrian safety in regard to serious (fatal and incapacitating) crashes, using Oregon as a case study. On review of state and federal practices pertaining to older pedestrian safety, 4 years of crash data identified 112 older (≥65 years) pedestrian serious injury crashes. These data were explore...

This study analyzed the impacts on motor vehicle observed speeds following a residential speed limit reduction from 40.23 km/hr (25 mi/hr) to 32.19 km/hr (20 mi/hr) in Portland, OR that was accompanied by a public awareness and signage campaign. The study used before and after observations of vehicle speeds collected by pneumatic tube traffic count...

By using various modes (e.g., walking, cycling, automobile, public transit, etc.), multi-modal transportation systems are effective in increasing people’s travel flexibility and reducing congestion. Hence, it is critical to understand how roadway speed management strategies would affect people’s mode choices. Additionally, with advanced technology,...

In the context of work zone safety, worker presence and its impact on crash severity has been less explored. Moreover, there is a lack of research on contributing factors by time-of-day. To accomplish this, first a mixed logit model was used to determine statistically significant crash severity contributing factors and their effects. Significant fa...

It has been widely shown that pedestrians’ level of frustration grows with the increase of pedestrian delay, and may cause pedestrians to violate the signals. However, for agencies seeking to use multimodal signal performances for signal operations, the pedestrian delay is not always readily available. To tackle this issue, this study proposed a fi...

Using survey data from 3004 respondents aged 21 and older in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Tidewater area, this paper identifies factors associated with respondents’ travel choices in alcohol-related situations: (1) the last time the respondent consumed alcohol, (2) when avoiding driving after drinking, and (3) when avoiding riding with a dr...

The high number of vehicle-pedestrian crashes in the United State has gained increased attention among transportation safety analysts in recent years. Being directly exposed to the collision force makes pedestrians more prone to becoming severely injured when in crash than other road users. Considering the fact that pedestrian-involved crashes is a...

The research reviewed best practices, identified overrepresentations of serious crashes involving older drivers and pedestrians using Oregon crash data, and mapped the best practices and countermeasures. From 2013 to 2016, there were 884 older driver and 112 older pedestrian fatal and serious injury crashes. Older driver fatal and serious injury cr...

Intersections present a significant safety concern, as such in an effort to reduce the more serious injuries occurring at or near intersections, many jurisdictions have turned to implementing roundabouts. Despite the advantages that roundabouts provide, crashes still occur, and less severe crashes are on the rise. The study presented in this paper...

This study employs a random parameters binary logistic regression (LR) to characterize the impact of environmental and structural parameters on concrete highway bridge deck deterioration nationwide. Two specific gaps in the literature are addressed: (1) the use of a nationwide dataset for analysis, and (2) the implementation of a methodology to acc...

Distracted driving continues to pose threats to transportation safety as it impairs driver performance and increases crash risk. In recent years, cell phone use while driving has become the primary research interest regarding distracted driving. However, the majority of this research has focused on the prevalence and risks of such behavior in passe...

Work zones are a high priority issue in the field of road transportation because of their impacts on traffic safety. A better understanding of work zone crashes can help to identify the contributing factors and countermeasures to enhance roadway safety. This study investigates the prediction of work zone crash severity and the contributing factors...

This report is the third in a series of reports examining issues in Oregon related to changes in posted speed limits. In 2004, a comprehensive report, “Impacts and Issues Related to Proposed Changes in Oregon’s Interstate Speed Limits1 ,” was prepared. An update to the most important literature in the report was updated in 2017’s “Update to Issues...

Chronic population decline in cities nationwide has resulted in increased per capita costs for continued service of water and wastewater infrastructure. Due to the high fixed costs associated with water and wastewater infrastructures and this chronic population decline, the financial burden to maintain and operate the fixed-grid footprint has becom...

This paper focuses on the availability of parking for freight vehicles, with a specific focus on being able to find safe and adequate parking (i.e., a designated parking location for large trucks) along a primary freight corridor in Oregon. This is achieved through the use of a truck driver survey regarding their experiences related to the availabi...

Previous studies have examined the relationships between run-off-road (ROR) crashes and the contributing factors; however, the impact of lighting conditions has been insufficiently addressed. As a result, the objective of this study was to research the effect of lighting conditions on the injury severity of ROR crashes that involve large trucks. Ba...

A discrete choice model that consists of three sub-models was developed to investigates the route choice criteria of drivers who travel from their homes in the morning to the access point along the major streets that bound the Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs). The first sub-model is a Nested Logit Model (NLM) that estimates the probability of a driver...

Transportation agencies need efficient methods to determine how to reduce bicycle accidents while promoting cycling activities and prioritizing safety improvement investments. Many studies have used standalone methods, such as level of traffic stress (LTS) and bicycle level of service (BLOS), to better understand bicycle mode share and network conn...

This work applies a mixed logit modeling framework to investigate heavy-vehicle driver injury severity by time-of- week. A parameter transferability test is conducted to validate separating the models. The results display a difference in contributing factors and conclude that heavy-vehicle safety analysis needs to be conducted by time of week.

It is recognized nationwide that commercial motor vehicle operators are often unable to find safe and adequate parking to meet hours-of-service (HOS) regulations. This holds true in Oregon, where high-use corridor rest areas and truck stops are experiencing a demand for truck parking that exceeds capacity. With such a demand for truck parking, ther...

Previous heavy-vehicle (a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds) injury severity studies have disaggregated data by factors such as urban/rural and time-of-day, yet a focus on contributing factors by roadway classification is lacking. Taking this into consideration, the current study aims to extend traditional heavy-ve...

This paper focuses on the availability of parking for freight vehicles, one important and leading factor associated with the many confounding variables involved with large truck crashes and safety critical events. This is achieved through the use of a truck driver survey regarding their experiences related to the availability of safe and adequate p...

Studies investigating crash rates by roadway classification are few and far between and even more so if extended to focus on heavy vehicles. This study explores and compares two advanced econometric methods, namely random-parameter Tobit regression and latent class Tobit regression, to determine contributing factors for heavy vehicle crashes per mi...

Building information modeling (BIM) enables creating a digital representation of a designed facility combined with additional information about the project attributes, performance criteria, and construction process. Users of BIM tools point to the ability to visualize the final design along with the construction process as a beneficial feature of u...

The movement of freight is critical to the economic prosperity of Oregon. According to the Oregon Freight Plan, freight-dependent industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, construction and retail provided the state with 700,000 jobs and generated $29 billion of personal income in year 2008. Oregon ranks 9th in the nation for trade per capita –...