Escalating trends in pedestrian and cyclist fatalities points to a pressing need to improve traffic safety, especially for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and scooters. A key challenge in enhancing intersection safety is the lack of accurate, detailed, and real-time data that captures the complexities of these dynamic and uncertain environment. If intersections themselves could "see" the diverse array of vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and scooters, each with unique movement patterns and safety needs, this could vastly improve safety. Making intersections "smart" by equipping them with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology that can capture a detailed and real-time 3D environment could facilitate the accurate detection of vehicles and other road users, to better control signal timing and assist future connected vehicles (CVs) and/or connected automated vehicles (CAVs) in driving safely.
California is unlikely to meet its climate goals if it doesn’t reduce vehicle travel. So far, however, state and local efforts to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) have fallen short of expectations, even as cities grow more compact and public transit funding has increased. To better understand the role of highway expansion in meeting California’s climate goals, we analyzed whether a simple model that only considers road capacity and population growth can predict VMT as well as traditional transportation models. We also looked at the share of recent VMT growth that has been caused by expanded road capacity, and the reductions in VMT from transit and other projects funded by California’s climate investments.
California’s 116 community colleges, attended by 1.9 million students, serves the largest and most diverse student body in California higher education. Transportation plays an important role in student community college access and retention, but the cost and accessibility can create a barrier to success. Community college students spend more on transportation than their counterparts at both public and private four-year institutions, largely due to the lack of on-campus or nearby affordable housing. The absence of high-quality public transit forces students to commute by private vehicle and manage the associated costs of gas, maintenance, and parking. However, these transportation challenges for community college students are frequently overlooked. To better understand the mobility challenges students face accessing community colleges and provide potential policy strategies to overcome these challenges, we interviewed local transportation agencies, community college administrators, and students at five California community colleges between September 2022 and October 2023. We also reviewed state legislation on student transportation to understand current and past policy attempts to address community college transportation challenges.
Growing poverty in America’s suburbs challenges their image as single-family residential communities for middle class, predominantly white families. Research shows that suburban areas now have the largest share of households under the poverty line. Since these areas have lower density development and lower levels of public transit service compared to urban areas, living in the suburbs may pose accessibility challenges for low-income households, particularly those without a personal vehicle. To explore housing and transportation issues associated with the suburbanization of poverty, we combined U.S. Census data from Contra Costa County, which has the highest rates of suburban poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area, and online and in-person surveys with individuals who earn less than 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), around $75,000. This research identifies demographic and external factors that lead low- and moderate-income households to move to suburban areas, accessibility barriers faced by low- and moderate-income suburban households, and how transportation use and transportation and housing costs differ between urban and suburban low-income residents in the Bay Area.
The State of California has increasingly considered the housing and environmental crises together by encouraging affordable housing development in transit rich areas. As such, municipalities are encouraging the creation of affordable housing near transit lines and metropolitan planning organizations are being called on to preserve transit-accessible affordable housing at the regional level. While much effort has gone into advocating for affordable housing in transit rich areas, research has yet to evaluate the experience of low-income residents at such sites. In turn, we surveyed 192 residents at six affordable housing sites geographically spread throughout San Diego County to understand their transportation experiences. All the developments were 100 percent affordable, contained at least 50 units, and provided both multifamily and senior
housing.
California is committed to transitioning heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) from diesel to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) like battery electric vehicles (BEVs) or hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEVs) by 2045, and in certain cases much sooner. Achieving this goal requires substantial efforts from various sectors, including vehicle manufacturers, infrastructure developers, and governments. It is particularly important to understand the perspectives of HDV fleet operators, as their viewpoints and willingness to adopt ZEVs will be critical to California’s success in this transition. To better understand the perspective of fleet operators, we conducted in-depth interviews with 18 California HDV fleet operators, across various sectors and fleet sizes, on the viability of zero-emission fuels and vehicles over the next 10 to 20 years and the main motivators for, and barriers to, procuring ZEVs.
Drayage trucks (i.e., heavy-duty trucks that move containers and bulk freight between ports and rail facilities, distribution centers, and other nearby locations) are a critical part of port operations, however, they also adversely affect air quality. In California, drayage fleets are facing strict regulatory pressure under the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulations. Starting in January 2024, all newly registered drayage trucks in the CARB Online System must be zeroemission vehicles (ZEVs), so either a battery electric truck (BET) or hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (HFCET). By 2035, every drayage truck operating in California must be zeroemission.
The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project aims to transform transportation in the state. To understand the impact of this project as it “rolls out” across the state, we analyzed its economic benefits across each of its plannedphases, complementing official projections from the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA). Our analysis is based on a spatial economic model of the rail system model previously developed by members of our team. This model captures the direct potential travel benefits of the HSR project, such as quicker and sometimes cheaper transportation, for commuters, business travelers, and leisure travelers. It also captures wider economic benefits such as higher wages and land values stemming from greater concentration of employment in more productive areas.
The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project stands to significantly change transportation across the state, but questions remain about who will benefit most from this massive infrastructure investment. While previous analyses have focused on the aggregate economic benefits of HSR in California, we provide a more nuanced understanding of these benefits for communities across California using a spatial economic model previously developed by members of our team. This model captures the direct potential travel benefits of the HSR project (such as quicker and sometimes cheaper transportation) for commuters, business travelers, and leisure travelers. It also captures wider economic benefits such as higher wages and land values stemming from greater concentration of employment in more productive areas. We examine how these benefits would be distributed across California regions and socioeconomic and income groups. By understanding the potential disparities in the impact of the HSR project, policymakers can develop complementary policies to promote more balanced economic development across regions in the state.
Beginning in 2020, many in-person activities were replaced by virtual activities as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This affected fundamental elements of transportation systems such as trip frequency, commute distance, origins, and destinations. For example, remote work and study werewidely adopted among workers and students. Still, the ways that the pandemic affected individuals’ work arrangements across different phases of the pandemic and the extent to which full remote work and hybrid work induced by the pandemic might persist in the future are unclear. In addition, recent studies are not conclusive regarding the ways changes in work arrangements do/will impact travelpatterns and trip making.
