ITS Berkeley

For over 20 years, researchers at the University of California Transportation Center have asked hard questions and used the answers to help guide public policy. From its beginning, UCTC’s core research theme has focused on tying together transportation systems analysis and policy. We do this by funding research, graduate and undergraduate education, and special studies for federal, state and...

Public institutions are facing natural and manmade hazards of increasing frequency and severity. While the costs of disasters can be greatly reduced when individuals prepare, successfully encouraging preparation is difficult for governments, given the low salience of such risks. We examine whether the increased salience of other types of risks can influence individual willingness to prepare for natural and manmade hazards, and whether message impact varies with recipients’ levels of trust in their source. We capitalize upon a rare policy experiment—the staged rollout of COVID-19...

Turbulent debates between divergent actors are part of the fiber of planning. One manifestation of tensions is the emergence of tactical coalitions with citizens finding common ground across the political divide. This article seeks to theorize such coalition formation for which planning scholarship is sparse. Drawing from agonism, other scholarship, and three U.S. cases of sustainable infrastructure, I develop a typology of tactical coalitions based on their level of strategic interaction, duration, and transformation. This research and theorization provides compelling evidence that...

Gasoline taxes provide a significant source of funding for transportation in the United States but have failed to keep pace with system needs. This article examines the news media discourse surrounding proposed gasoline tax increases in eight states in 2008 and 2009: Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Idaho, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Oregon. Researchers use a frame analysis approach to examine the policy debate in these states. Results indicate that frequently occurring frames promoting gasoline tax increases emphasize the deterioration of the transportation system,...