October 9, 2025

UC ITS Launches New Round of Research to Shape California’s Transportation Future

Sandra Hemingway

share

Through funding from the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 1), the UC Institute of Transportation Studies (UC ITS) is launching a new slate of research projects aimed at advancing California’s transportation, climate, and equity goals.

This year’s portfolio features work to enhance roadway safety, develop innovative planning tools, reduce transportation emissions, improve public health, and integrate emerging technologies. Together, these projects demonstrate UC ITS’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that public investments and policies are grounded in rigorous research and deliver tangible benefits for communities across the state.

Explore the new projects launching this fall below.

Evaluate the Effects of California’s First Speed Camera Installation Using Telematics Data in San Francisco

Research Team:

Julia Griswold (lead), Sujin Lee, Matthew Raifman

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

Airport Parking as Grid Assets: Optimal Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure and Management

Research Team:

Matthew D. Dean (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine

Assessing the Equity Legacy of Mega-Event Transit Investments: Accessibility Impacts of Los Angeles’ ‘28 by 28’ Projects

Research Team:

Daniel Rodriguez (lead), Gregório Luz

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

Fair Miles: A Data-Informed Framework for Road Usage Pricing in California

Research Team:

Manxi Wu (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

Catalyzing Street Safety in Los Angeles through a Worker-Centered Model

Research Team:

Adonia Lugo (lead), Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero (Tala)

UC Campus(es):

UCLA

Co-Designing a Community Bicycle Lending Library in Santa Ana, CA

Research Team:

Elisa Borowski (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine

Trajectory Planning for Connected and Automated Vehicles in Work Zones

Research Team:

Pei (Peggy) Wang (lead), Xinwei Yang

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

CrossWise: A Scalable System for Intersection Classification and Safety Analysis

Research Team:

Maryam Hosseini (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

Enhancing Automated Vehicle Braking for Human Compatibility

Research Team:

Wenlong Jin (lead), Jooneui Hong

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine

Do Plans Converge? Tracking Local Planning in Response to State Transportation Goals

Research Team:

Jae Hong Kim (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine

Transportation and Food Access: A Comparison between Santa Ana, CA, and Syracuse, NY

Research Team:

Jean-Daniel Saphores (lead), Anne C. Bellows

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine

Improving Rail Emissions Estimation Using Vision-Based Monitoring and Operational Data

Research Team:

Stephen Ritchie (lead), Andre Tok

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine

Impacts of Corridor- vs. Transit Area-based Upzoning on Housing and Transit Ridership

Research Team:

Michael Manville (lead), Shane Phillips, Aaron Barrall, Alexander Nelms

UC Campus(es):

UCLA

Examining The Implications of Highway Expansion, Freight Growth, and Environmental Justice

Research Team:

Regan Patterson (lead), Mahtab Ahmed

UC Campus(es):

UC Davis, UCLA

Do Post-Pandemic Travel Shifts Warrant Changes to California’s Transportation Policies and Plans?

Research Team:

Brian D. Taylor (lead), Hao Ding

UC Campus(es):

UCLA

Transportation and Wildfire Evacuation: Lessons from the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires

Research Team:

Hao Ding (lead), Evelyn Blumenberg

UC Campus(es):

UCLA

Closing the Urban-Suburban Travel Gap for Low-income Travelers

Research Team:

Evelyn Blumenberg (lead), Sang-O Kim, Madeline Brozen

UC Campus(es):

UCLA

CalTranPlanner: A Statewide Transportation Planning Tool

Research Team:

Youngseo Kim (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UCLA

Re-Examining Induced Travel in California

Research Team:

Michael Cassidy (lead), Jean Doig Godier, Atiila Kharobo

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

Using Connected Vehicles to Smooth Traffic Flow: A Large-Scale Pilot in Contra Costa County

Research Team:

Alexandre Bayen, Alex Bayen (lead), Jonathan Lee

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley

Potential Impacts of a Statewide Indirect Source Rule for Warehouses and Zero-Emission Truck Policies

Research Team:

Miguel Jaller (lead), Peng Hao, Guoyuan Wu

UC Campus(es):

UC Davis, UC Riverside

Modeling Gasoline Supply Risks Amid California’s Transition to Low Carbon Transportation

Research Team:

Colin Murphy (lead), Julie Witcover, Rui Zhou, Aaron Smith

UC Campus(es):

UC Berkeley, UC Davis

Improving Electric Transportation Resilience After Disasters

Research Team:

Ricardo deCastro (lead), Keith Corzine

UC Campus(es):

UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz

Protecting Intelligent Traffic Management Systems from Physical Attacks

Research Team:

Mohammad Abdullah Al Faruque (lead)

UC Campus(es):

UC Irvine