Special Events

Are you interested in a technical tour?

At this year's AASHTO annual meeting, the Oregon Department of Transportation will offer several guided technical tours featuring transportation landmarks and innovative programs.

Port of Portalnd Facilities Tour

AASHTO members and registered guests are invited to tour the Port of Portland, a key player in the regional economy and intermodal transportation.

The port owns several marine terminals, four airports, seven business parks, and operates the dredge Oregon, which helps maintain the navigation channel on the lower Columbia and Willametter rivers.

Reserve your spot on the tour by emailing Juan Flores. Download the tour flyer for more information.

Portland's Intelligent Transportation Systems Tour

On this tour, you will learn about and see in person some of Portland's most innovative deployments of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Like the Loch Ness Monster, you can hope for a sight of one of Portland's most elusive gems: a cooperatively built and maintained fiber optic cable network! More likely, you will see some of the programs that this unique network enables: incident management, parking navigation, truck-safety intersections, and traveler information.

You'll get to see Portland State University's new state of the art ITS research laboratory and ODOT's Traffic Management and Operations Center (because what's an ITS tour without a TMC stop?). And also learn about how TriMet, the region's transit provider, is utilizing the GPS equipment on its fleet for asset management, real-time arterial traffic conditions, and automated stop announcements.

Regional collaboration may not be quite as exotic as Nessy but this tour will give you a chance to get an inside look at how Portland's agencies are working together to use ITS to achieve mobility, safety, and cost-effectiveness.

Innovative Partnerships Program: Road User Fee Pilot Program

Administered by the Oregon Department of Transportation's Office of Innovative Partnerships, the mileage fee pilot program tests several key aspects of charging a per mile fee at the gas pump in lieu of paying the 24 cents per gallon state gas tax. Volunteers for the one-year pilot are using a mileage-counting device for in-state travel and purchasing gas at participating service stations.

The tour will take you to a specially equipped service station in Portland, where Innovative Partnerships Manager Jim Whitty will walk you through the program and show you a specially outfitted vehicle.