The current theme for METSI is “Livability and Sustainable Transportation.”
Here is a list of selected completed research funded completely or partly through the METSI program:
- Transportation Needs for Older Adults in Illinois — Researchers presented population projections for the older adult population in Illinois and assessed housing, transportation, and mobility characteristics throughout Illinois to identify need and offered conclusions and recommendations for improvement.
- Mapping Accessibility Online Tool — A new digital resource, the Metropolitan Chicago Accessibility Explorer, will give planners and policymakers a tool to better evaluate accessibility by four common transportation modes to many types of destinations in the urban environment.
- Shared Use Rail Corridor — Learn about completed UTC research that led to development of a hypergraph based, two-level model that may help minimize the impact of delays resulting from shared passenger and freight rail corridors.
- Framework to Rank Pedestrian/Cyclist Projects — This study centered on the feasibility and value of new transportation improvement projects for pedestrians and cyclists. The result was a ranking methodology and measurement technique to score each improvement project.
- Study Into Commuting Habits at Hospitals — To better understand the commuting patterns of healthcare workers, researchers explored commuting behaviors, identified ways to reduce transportation-related environmental impacts, and suggested policy interventions.
- Public Transit to Public Lands — Research dubbed “The Nature Express” resulted in an index to identify the target population that is likely to be disadvantaged due to the lack of access to forest preserves in Cook County.
- Central Area Transit Circulation Efforts — A paper addressed the plans that originated in the late-1980s to build the new surface rail system, the Chicago Central Area Circulator, and the evolution of the city’s Central Area transportation network in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.