Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Transportation Policy

Portland’s Transport Research Guru Headed to Obama Administration

3:14 PM EDT on August 5, 2009

The U.S. DOT is expected to announce today that it has tapped Robert Bertini, a Portland State University professor who headed Oregon's state-wide transport research effort, as the No. 2 at the Research and Innovative Technology Administration -- the government's home for stats on all things transportation.

large_Rob_Bertini_1.jpgRobert Bertini. Photo: Oregonian

Bertini's hiring is an uber-wonky personnel move, to be sure. But it also signals the ascent of a reason-based approach to transportation policy, with a focus on increasing efficiency by helping communities shift a greater share of trips onto transit.

In testimony before Congress last year, Bertini outlined the dizzying array of projects his Oregon research consortium, known as OTREC, has embarked upon after its founding in 2005 (with a grant from the federal DOT). Here's just a sampling of what OTREC has studied:

    • The socio-economic impacts of imposing a new vehicle miles traveled tax
    • The relationship between transportation planning and land use, assuming "a certain set of goals are determined and pursued by politicians and planners," as Bertini put it
    • How to shift suburban multi-family housing developments to a broader mix of transport modes
    • Using technology to encourage more neighborhood pedestrian activity
    • How community safety affects public health for lower-income children

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Monday’s Headlines: ‘What is Up With All These Flip-Flops, Mayor?’ Edition

It's the same old story with this mayor and his chief adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin. Plus other news.

September 25, 2023

Why Sustainable Transportation Advocates Need to Talk About Long COVID

Covid-19 transformed many U.S. cities' approach to sustainable transportation forever. But how did it transform the lives of sustainable transportation advocates who developed lasting symptoms from the disease?

September 24, 2023

Analysis: ‘Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program’ is a Failure By All Measures

The Department of Transportation wants the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program to simply expire in part because it did not dramatically improve safety among these worst-of-the-worst drivers and led to a tiny number of vehicle seizures.

September 22, 2023

School Bus Driver Kills Cyclist in Boro Park, 24th Bike Death of 2023

Luis Perez-Ramirez, 44, was biking south on Fort Hamilton Parkway just before 3:15 p.m. when he was struck a by school bus driver making a right turn.

September 22, 2023

‘Betrayal’: Adams Caves to Opposition, Abandons Bus Improvement Plan on Fordham Road

The capitulation on Fordham Road is the latest episode in which the mayor has delayed or watered down a transportation project in deference to powerful interests.

September 22, 2023
See all posts