Join us at the 2025 Oregon Active Transportation Summit! Happening April 23–25 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Portland’s multimodal Lloyd District, this year’s OATS promises three days of inspiration, connection, and action. Hear from powerful keynote speakers, engage in roundtable conversations with lawmakers and decision-makers, and get the latest advocacy updates from coalition partners across Oregon. And don’t miss these informative sessions from our Alta leaders below:
East Multnomah County Safe Streets Planning Workshop
Wednesday April 23, 2025 | 2:30pm – 4:15pm PST
Alta is working with Multnomah County to develop a Transportation Safety Action Plan for East Multnomah County, planning safety improvements for some of the most unsafe roads in the County. We are in the process of developing our project list and need your help. With implementation funding in question, this is the time to think local and get creative.
Join us for an interactive safety planning workshop, using this project as a case study. Participants will learn about the project and what we’ve heard from the community so far, practice applying safety countermeasures to priority locations in East Multnomah County, work in small groups to develop strategies for building political support for big changes, and contribute your ideas to an active project in your backyard!
Alta Presenters: Katie Selin, Mike Sellinger
Let Knowledge Serve the City and Beyond: 10 years of Community Inspired Success with the Better Block PSU Project Pathway
Wednesday April 23, 2025 | 2:30pm – 4:15pm PST
The Better Block PSU Project Pathway is celebrating 10 years of spearheading dozens and dozens of active transportation projects researched by MURP and Civil Engineering Capstone Students that have been built by PBOT, including protected bike lanes on the Burnside Bridge, the first bus lane in the Portland metro region on Madison Street, the first floating transit island piloted on NE Broadway, the first in the nation’s shared transit and freight lanes on MLK/Grand/Highway 99E, among many others.
Alta Moderator: Derek Abe
How Public & Active Transportation Investments Can Stimulate Oregon’s Economy
Thursday April 24, 2025 | 9:15am – 10:30am PST
Investing in public transit, biking, and walking is not just good policy, it is smart economics. This session will explore how active and multimodal transportation infrastructure creates jobs, supports local businesses, strengthens regional supply chains, and delivers strong returns for communities across Oregon. With rapidly shifting federal and state funding availability now is the time to make the case for transportation investments that move people and grow our economy.
Alta Presenter: Mike Sellinger
Co-Presenters: Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, Metro Councilor Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Johnell Bell, and Elissa Gertler
Future-proofing Active Transportation Investments: Recent Research to Estimate Benefits from Active Transportation Investments
Thursday April 24, 2025 | 10:45am – 11:45am PST
Explore brand new research from NCHRP 08-149 Estimating Benefits of Closing Gaps in Active Transportation Networks. This NCHRP project produced a step-by-step guide for estimating the benefits of closing gaps in active transportation facilities. The guide was designed for use by practitioners and includes different approaches for different levels of resource availability and expertise.
Our session will cover the following topics:
- – Gaps in active transportation networks. What is a gap and who does it affect?
- – Behavior change: How does transportation behavior change after an active transportation gap is closed?
- – Benefits: What are the best practices for monetizing the health, safety, emissions, and local economic benefits of active transportation projects?
- – Equity: How do the benefits accrue across a community?
- – Communication: What are effective approaches for communicating the benefits tailored to different audiences (i.e., decision makers, practitioners, community members, etc.)?
Our session will include a discussion with audience members on how they can incorporate information from this session into their work and empower communities to advocate for increased investments in active transportation.
Alta Presenter: Mike Sellinger
Co-presenters: Rebecca Sanders, Joe Broach
PSU Better Block Old Town Walkshop
Thursday April 24, 2025 | 2:15pm – 3:15pm PDT
This Walkshop will tour attendees through PSU Better Block projects in Old Town. All of these projects were studied by a mix of PSU Urban Planning and Engineering students to then see them implemented by PBOT. Projects like Better Naito, 3rd/2nd avenue bike lanes & crosswalks, Ankeny Plaza, Burnside Bridge bus lane & protected bike lanes, etc. We will discuss how the students have played a crucial role in promoting innovation amongst agency staff. The conversation will also include how these students have studied projects outside of Portland’s core from the city of Independence and currently, Vancouver, WA.
Alta Presenter: Derek Abe
Shining a Light on your Community’s Number One Request
Friday April 25, 2025 | 1:00pm – 2:15pm PST
Illumination or lack thereof can drastically change how people perceive and navigate the built environment. This is especially important for people walking and biking, who do not possess headlights, and are vulnerable road users. This presentation explores illumination for active transportation including who’s been asking for it, how it can be assessed, what to consider for recommendations, and what treatments are available for practitioners. Join us as we shine a light on this often-overlooked area of active transportation!
This presentation is part of the Transportation Trailblazers track. Participants will gain actionable insights on how they can improve lighting in their community and drive impactful change.
Alta Presenters: Katie Selin, Trevor Luu