Author: Chris Smith

  • Road Diets

    I was in a meeting a few weeks ago and heard the term “Road Diet” to describe reducing the auto capacity of a road. I found it quite curious (and a little humorous). Serendipitously I was reviewing the archive of webcasts for the PSU Transportation Seminar Series and came across a presentation specifically on the…

  • Opportunity to hear Vancouver’s Gordon Price tonight

    Former Vancouver, B.C. City Councilor Gordon Price will address the PSU/PDOT Traffic and Transportation class tonight and the public is invited: The Portland Office of Transportation’s “Traffic & Transportation” course invites you to join the class for an evening! Gordon Price, adjunct professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of…

  • Traffic Circles in the Netherlands

    One of the unique bicycle features in the Netherlands is that traffic circles (‘rotaries’ if you grew up on the east coast like I did) have a separate lane for bikes. Concrete islands help regulate the flow of autos to avoid conflicts with bikes.

  • Academic Research on the Portland Streetcar

    It’s not every day that you get to read a master’s these about your favorite transportation project. So I settled down over the weekend with a cold beverage and all 210 pages of University of Calgary student Tom Gardiner’s thesis: Understanding Perceptions of the Portland Streetcar System. Even better, Tom’s thesis focuses in on my…

  • Traffic Enforcement in the Netherlands

    We had the opportunity to spend about two hours with Chief Smoorenburg during our visit to Amsterdam (the chief’s HQ was outside Utrecht, a one hour train ride, 30 minute tram ride and 20 minute walk from Amsterdam). The Chief is responsible for traffic enforcement for the county surrounding Utrecht.