Oregon Walks 2014 Weston Award

Dr. Kelly J. Clifton – Weston Award Winner

We are very excited to be honoring Dr. Kelly J. Clifton, a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering from Portland State University for her hard work in transportation, land use, and travel demand research. Dr. Clifton works diligently to make the connection between research and policy to help guide local and regional transportation and land use development to ensure our streets are accessible, safe, and vibrant for pedestrians.

Portland decision makers look to Dr. Clifton’s research to better understand how the built environment affects daily transportation choices and how development can incentivize different transportation modes. Dr. Clifton is the Director of the Oregon Modeling Collaborative, a consortium of public and private agencies working to research, develop, and apply integrated transportation modeling approaches. She is also a fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Solutions and the chair of the World Society for Transport and Land Use Research.

Her research helps inform planners to guide development to promote healthy, accessible, and vibrant communities. For example, she and her research team are looking at adjusting existing ITE (Institute for Transportation Engineers) models to more accurately predict vehicle trips based on land use development and to promote pedestrian and cycling behavior. Their work was recently included in the latest edition of the ITE Trip Generation Handbook. Another product of her research efforts is PEDS (the Pedestrian Environment Data Scan), an audit tool to evaluate microscale features of the pedestrian environment.
Dr. Clifton has also done extensive surveys on determining the connection between consumer behavior and transportation options. The survey found that while pedestrians, transit users, and cyclists make smaller purchases than auto drivers due to capacity carrying restraints, they often frequent the establishment more often. This survey encourages businesses to not focus on solely on their auto driver customers but instead to consider all modes of transportation in their design and development.

Dr. Clifton is a key researcher in developing livability in the Portland region. She was recently named the 2014 OTREC Research of the Year. Her work is top-notch and respected by professionals around the U.S. and the world. She provides policymakers with the information necessary to make tough decisions and support a more walkable community and will continue to have a strong influence on Portland planning in the future. Not to mention working with students to develop pedestrian and cycling minded planners and engineers for future generations.

We are excited to honor the work, research, and enthusiasm of Dr. Kelly J. Clifton at this year’s Weston Awards. Congratulations!
JOIN US to celebrate innovation, leadership and the joy of walking on November 22nd. Tickets are available here – grab them fast before they run out!