The METRANS Transportation Center has grown substantially over the past 19 years, beginning in 1998 as one federally funded University Transportation Center (UTC) led by the University of Southern California (USC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). It currently houses five research centers receiving funding from both public- and private-sector donors. The most recent addition is the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center, a U.S. Department of Transportation-funded regional UTC headquartered at USC. There are 10 regional UTCs in the U.S., one for each of the U.S. Census regions.  The purpose of regional UTCs is to address the transportation problems of the region and to lead the coordination and dissemination of research throughout the region.

The Pacific Southwest Region (PSR) UTC includes eight academic institutions within California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and the Pacific Island Territories. In addition to the long-standing USC-CSULB partnership, six other academic institutions will participate in the PSR UTC: Northern Arizona University (NAU); Pima Community College (PCC); University of California, Davis (UC Davis); University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine); and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and University of Hawaii (UH).

Within each of these institutions are interdisciplinary research and training centers renowned for their contributions to the transportation community, covering topics as varied as disaster preparedness, automated vehicles, alternative vehicle fuels, and sustainable planning. All PSR research efforts are guided by four themes:

1. Technology to address transportation problems and improve mobility;
2. Improving mobility for vulnerable populations;
3. Improving resilience and protecting the environment; and
4. Managing mobility in high-growth areas.

Each research center participating in the PSR UTC brings unique research and educational expertise focused on solving pressing issues in transportation, as well as exploring the promise and potential of emerging technologies for transportation applications. Detailed profiles of METRANS’ six partners are included below.

Northern Arizona University

AZTrans, the Arizona Laboratory for Applied Transportation Research, is housed within the Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering Department at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and is known for conducting shovel-ready applied transportation research. AZTrans maintains a state-of-the-art teaching and research transportation laboratory, fully equipped for traffic simulation, detailed safety analyses, pavement and structural health monitoring, and modeling the impact of extreme weather events and climate change on transportation facilities. Current active projects include the investigation of I-10 as a high-tech freight corridor, analysis of recessed pavement markings for highway safety, and the investigation of pavement and structural resiliency from individual member and system-wide perspectives.

AZTrans hosts five faculty researchers with a range of expertise: transportation operations and safety, using sensing networks to address pavement health and durability, modeling the design and performance of structural concrete in large-scale infrastructure, and adapting road infrastructure (such as culverts and fish passages) to climate change impacts. In addition, a curriculum coordinator from NAU’s Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals will collaborate with the PSR and assist in outreach and training programs for Native American tribes.

Pima Community College

This most recent round of UTC grant awards was particularly noteworthy in being the first to encourage the participation of community colleges. Pima Community College (PCC) is a two-year college serving the greater Tucson metropolitan area at six locations throughout Pima County, Arizona. PCC will be implementing workforce development and career training initiatives targeting underserved populations. For example, METRANS and PCC are partnering with two local tribes, Tohono O' Odham and Pascua Yaqui, to provide GIS workforce training and soft skills development. Those trainings will not only instill skills and enthusiasm in youth preparing to enter the workforce but will also empower tribes with the tools to document local infrastructure data and cultural heritage sites to aid in community decision-making.

In addition, PCC is expanding its efforts to lower barriers and increase access to career and technical education for underserved communities. It will continue to expand its current distance learning offerings for individuals who live in rural or remote areas, as well as exploring the potential to integrate new technologies, such as virtual reality, that can enrich the virtual classroom experience.

“We have become quite adept at translating research and vision into action and are often called upon to lead collaborative and innovative workforce development projects throughout the region,” said Dr. Ian Roark, Vice President of Workforce Development at PCC.

University of California, Davis

The Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis (ITS-Davis) is a leading university center on sustainable transportation and home to more than 60 affiliated faculty and researchers and over 120 graduate students. It also hosts the Transportation Technology and Policy graduate program, whose unique interdisciplinary research and educational curriculum draws from 34 academic disciplines.

ITS-Davis’ research efforts are focused on three primary topics: travel behavior and transport systems modeling; environmental vehicle technologies and fuels; and climate change, air quality, and other environmental impacts. The institute leads the National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST), a national UTC that is helping government agencies reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from passenger and freight travel. USC and CSULB also partner with ITS-Davis as part of NCST.

University of California, Irvine

The Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine (ITS-Irvine) is one of the nation’s leading centers on intelligent and sustainable transportation systems, involving over 20 faculty and 100 graduate students.  ITS-Irvine is home to the interdisciplinary graduate degree program in Transportation Science, the California Energy Commission Natural Gas Vehicle Incentive Project, the 24/7 California Statewide Truck Activity Monitoring System (TAMS) for Caltrans and the Air Resources Board, and a new Transformational Mobility Science initiative.

Research efforts at ITS-Irvine cover a broad range of fundamental issues: supply modeling and policy analysis; demand modeling, complex travel behavior analysis and policy analysis for people and freight; land use interactions; environmental impact modeling and public health; and transportation economics, finance and pricing.

UCI faculty have pioneered research directed toward sustainability of transportation systems and the impact of information technology on the management of transportation operations, including research into vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. UCI faculty have also won several national best paper awards in recent years for their innovative mobility systems research.

University of California, Los Angeles

The Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA (ITS-UCLA) boasts 30 affiliated faculty and research staff who produce a wide body of research on transportation finance, public transit, and innovative mobility, among other topics. ITS-UCLA collaborates with numerous public- and private-sector partners on research, technology transfer, and workforce development. ITS research projects, events, and programs support more than 70 students in three graduate transportation degree programs.

Current projects include a partnership with Caltrans to develop the 2017 Statewide Transit Strategic Plan, which will lay out strategies for public transit to build upon recent and anticipated developments in legislative requirements, technological advances, and other changing trends. The institute also supports the UCLA Complete Streets Initiative, a research program that focuses on the need for safe and accessible streets for all individuals and all modes of transportation.

University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii (UH) is home to the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC), one of the leading training providers certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with a focus on natural hazards, coastal communities, and other issues central to disaster response and recovery. NDPTC’s training efforts are guided by FEMA’s five mission areas: prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. The NDPTC has trained more than 30,000 first responders and emergency managers across the country. It is also a member of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium.

As part of the PSR, the NDPTC will incorporate the PSR UTC’s transportation resilience research into its training courses for transportation professionals, which take place across the United States and its outlying territories. Current offerings include “Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery,” “Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Disaster Management,” and “Winter Weather Hazards: Science and Preparedness.”