City of Portland meets with USDOT RITA Adminstrator Peter Appel

Transportation Policy Director Catherine Ciarlo welcomed Peter Appel, the Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the Portland Building on Friday for a briefing on the activities the City is taking to work closely with researchers at the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium on advanced technology. The focus of the conversation was on recent bicycle innovations implemented by the City and transit signal priority applications that have made Portland a leader nationally in applying technology to move people more sustainably.

The City has been working closely with members of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on the IntelliDrive Steering Committee. IntelliDriveSM is a vision of real-time, wireless communication among vehicles and infrastructure to promote safer and more efficient travel. There are several elements of the IntelliDrive program that will shape the way cities use transportation data in the future. As part of the City’s efforts, engineers are working in the AERIS program, a new multimodal USDOT initiative that seeks to promote more environmentally friendly travel choices through the use of real-time transportation system data.

The City of Portland plans to work with the Oregon Department of Transportation, Metro, Portland State University and its regional partners to further the efforts of IntelliDrive, applying for a future FHWA grant to implement the vision of a safer City.