Oregon Active Transportation Summit

Bill Nesper, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists, will provide a look at bicycling advocacy from the national perspective and an update the state of transportation policy and funding on Capitol Hill.

Portland City Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane will share her thoughts on the future of transportation and infrastructure policy in the city, as well as how we can continue to make progress on our Vision Zero goals. Councilor Koyama Lane has worked to increase road safety and lead the effort to pass a resolution reaffirming Portland's commitment to Vision Zero last year.

Learn about the new Traffic Safety Report 2.0 from Multnomah County REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health), the long-awaited update to the 2021 REACH TSR that emphasized health injustices examined transportation at the intersection of Health, Race, and Justice.

We all know that closing gaps in our walking and biking networks provides tremendous benefits, and quantifying those benefits helps make the case for further investments. In this session, we will explore a brand new tool that estimates the benefits of active transportation network improvements. Building on recently published guidance in NCHRP Report 08-149 (Estimating Benefits of Closing Gaps in Active Transportation Networks), we developed a simplified spreadsheet implementation that makes the methods accessible to a broader range of practitioners and community advocates. The tool is intended to make it easier than ever to create research-backed, defensible estimates of a range of benefits from active travel, including health, safety, emissions reduction, and accessibility. The tool will be maintained and further developed as part of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) Resource HUB, and we hope it will empower planners and communities who advocate for increased investments in active transportation.

This session will cover the following topics:
* A quick summary of the NCHRP 08-149 Report.
* The purpose of the tool. Why it was created and who was it made for.
* A demonstration of the tool, including the different layers of customization and a quick example of how the tool can be used.
* Interactive example: Open the tool up to the floor to explore the tool as a group.
* Our session will include a discussion with the audience allowing them to ask questions and to better understand how the tool might help guide their work.

Public transportation funding in Oregon and across the country is facing an uncertain future. Oregon's public transit leaders continue to deliver collaborative, innovative service while managing limited fiscal resources in a changing mobility environment. This discussion will highlight the opportunities and challenges these leaders see in continuing to meet the needs of customers and communities while working to ensure future mobility services meet the needs of rapidly changing cities.

This conversation should also highlight how these leaders and others are thinking about the future of mobility and funding of transit in a year where the Congress is planning to take up Federal Funding Reauthorization. Attendees will learn about the current state of transit funding in Oregon and nationally and gain perspective on the decisions that leaders are making to ensure seamless mobility in their service areas, as well as speculate on paths forward to ensure the resources are in place to meet growing community needs.

ADD-ON TICKET REQUIRED: Innovators Luncheon with VIP Speakers Coach Sam Balto and Portland City Councilor Angelita Morillo

Coach Balto has helped make the concept of the Bike Bus a viral sensation through his online videos, while Councilor Morillo has used her platform to directly address constituents, creating authentic communications and increasing transparency. Our VIP speakers will share how they've made innovative use of social media to build their movements and make big impacts on public perception.

To register:
- If you do not have your OATS ticket yet, you can purchase your OATS and Luncheon ticket in a bundle here.
- If you have already purchased your OATS ticket, use the form here to add on a Luncheon ticket.

Details:
- In the Smith Ballroom (#355) of the Smith Memorial Student Union.
- Limited vegetarian and gluten-free options will be available.

Questions? Email [email protected].
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Swing by our informal, drop‑in‑style Office Hours to chat with ODOT HQ Active Transportation staff and yes, ask us anything! Whether you’re wrestling with a policy question, curious about a project, or have questions about funding programs, we'll be there to chat. Bring your questions, your ideas, your “I’ve always wondered…” musings, or even your wild hypotheticals. We’ll bring the expertise, the insight, and cookies. Come for the conversation, stay for the snacks.

Note: this session was originally scheduled to take place Friday at 10:30 a.m. while riding the Portland Streetcar loop and was titled "Tap and Talk with ODOT Active Transportation."

After years of advocacy, ownership of 82nd Avenue--formerly known as Oregon Highway 213--was transferred from the Oregon Department of Transportation to the City of Portland. From years of neglect, the road had deteriorated; pedestrian access became more dangerous; access for transit users on the Region’s busiest bus line suffered; and the corridor’s cultural richness challenged.

This transfer came with promise and with public funding – and with big questions. To tackle these questions – and set the stage for success for the communities on 82nd Avenue – APANO, Oregon Walks, Unite Oregon, and Verde organized a community-led coalition to engage people and partners in reimagining 82nd Avenue, to advocate, and to navigate this transformative opportunity equitably.

At OATS a few years ago, we shared our initial ideas, approach, and vision of this community-led coalition… Now we seek to continue the conversation at OATS to share lessons learned, progress secured, and challenges ahead.In a lively discussion with attendees, Metro Councilor Duncan Hwang will moderate a panel of APANO, Oregon Walks, Unite Oregon, and Verde leaders on key topics – examining assumptions, highlighting the power of community problem-solving approaches, discussing the intersection between transportation and community health, and sharing lessons for others.

Discussion topics include:
1. Public agency partnerships to secure and shape transformative investments, including specialized bus lanes (BATs), sidewalks, and crossings
2. The 82nd Development Strategy: community-focused planning and future directions
3. 82nd Tax Increment Financing (TIF): the potential to support corridor key strategies and priorities
4. Implementation partnerships: Coalition’s collaboration with agencies (e.g., BPS Eastport Plaza)
5. Prioritizing affordable housing, schools, small business support, and workforce development.

Active transportation affects people’s daily lives, safety, and families — yet we often communicate about this work in ways that feel overly technical or abstract. Campaigns meant to educate or change behavior need a deeper strategy to stick with people after they walk away. So how do we share complex information in ways that spark curiosity, empathy, and action? In this interactive session, the Toole Design team will share practical strategies for creating clear, compelling calls to action that resonate with stakeholders and community members. We’ll show how understanding your audiences, thoughtful messaging, strong visual design, and human-centered storytelling come together to build grass-roots support for transportation projects, programs, and funding efforts. The workshop will start with a brief presentation on the general strategy that the Toole Design team uses to create transportation campaigns, showing how important collaboration between planners, designers, and the client is, giving attendees direction on how to start thinking about messaging and campaign development. From there, we’ll gather campaign needs or issues from the audience and allow the Toole Design team to create a campaign or work through challenges in real time, offering the audience opportunities to ask questions, give feedback or suggestions, and/or tag in to become part of the campaign development team. Participants will learn about collaboration across disciplines and leave the workshop with the basic tools to tackle real-world communication challenges, developing creative approaches that blend planning, strategy, and design.Attendees will leave with:Ideas for communicating complex, safety-focused projectsAn understanding of how to determine the story and key audiences of a communication campaignIdeas for making outreach materials more engaging and approachableExperience applying creative thinking to real communication challengesNew connections with peers facing similar opportunities!This session is designed to be collaborative, hands-on, and energizing — where planning meets design, and technical expertise meets human connection. Come play with us!