Being in the transportation advocacy space means I come across many surveys throughout the year. Having a platform to share them and encouraging folks to give feedback on important topics is a very important role of BikePortland. But not every survey warrants its own post, and sometimes I don’t mention them at all because I just don’t get to them or they slip through the cracks.
Lately I’ve come across so many surveys I feel like a roundup is necessary. Below are seven transportation and planning-related surveys that are currently open. Please consider spending a bit of time to do these if they interest you. And if you know of others that would be relevant for us, please share in the comments and I’ll add them to this list.
Portland Bureau of Transportation – Plaza Survey
This is part of PBOT’s annual data gathering effort that helps them plan for the future. Given all the controversyaround street plazas lately, I feel like this has even more urgency than in past years. Take survey here
PBOT – Green Loop Plan Survey
From PBOT: “This survey asks for feedback on the Green Loop vision, how you’d use it, priorities and trade-offs. Your feedback will inform this next phase of Green Loop planning, which focuses on design and implementation strategies.” Survey asks key questions about what the main goal of the Green Loop should be. Takes 10-15 minutes to complete. Take survey here
PBOT – Transportation System Plan Vision + Goals Survey
PBOT is working on a TSP update, which is the framework that sets our next 20 years of decisions into stone. PBOT says you should take this survey because, “your voice will have the biggest impact in the Transportation System Plan update process at this very phase of the work, ensuring your values are present and reflected throughout the work plan and in guiding how we prioritize future transportation system investments.” Should take 5-10 minutes to complete and is open through October 1st. Take survey here
PBOT – Walk PDX Downtown Pedestrian Wayfinding
I covered this yesterday but figured it couldn’t hurt to remind you about it. This survey will help PBOT understand if a $150,000 wayfinding route in the downtown core is working well and how it could be better once a more permanent version is designed. Wayfinding nerds unite! This survey will remain open through the three-month pilot which began August 1st and runs through end of October. Take survey here
Oregon Department of Transportation – Transportation Safety Partner Survey
ODOT is in the process of updating the state’s Transportation Safety Action Plan (TSAP), which was last finalized in 2021. The 2026 version will guide how ODOT invests in projects and programs that will reduce crashes and eliminate road deaths. They want, “to hear what’s working — and what’s not — when it comes to transportation safety.” So tell ’em! Takes about 10 minutes to finish and you have until August 31st to get it done. Take survey here
Oregon State Parks – Reimagine Oregon State Parks Survey
There are lot of cool bikecamping spots in State Parks and OSP manages some excellent trails (paved and unpaved) around the region and state. This survey is part of OSP’s effort to, “better understand the public’s values and priorities as we shape that future.” It should take about 10-15 minutes and is open through September 8th. Take survey here
US Department of Transportation – Transportation Bill Feedback
*Note: This survey closes on Wednesday August 20th! Survey timeline extended to September 8th. I’m sharing this one at the urging of the League of American Bicyclists. It comes as the Trump Administration begins to shape the next transportation bill and his DOT Sec. Sean Duffy look to zero out all spending on bikeways and anything that “takes away” space for driving cars. Take survey here
Did I miss anything? Told you there were a lot (and one just closed yesterday)! I know it feels tedious, but you know how those government folks are. They often put a lot of stock in these surveys — especially if they reinforce what an agency already wants to do. Thanks for taking time to share your feedback.
Thanks for reading.
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There’s three new main issues that have been usually coming up with government surveys in the last few years, aside from the usual biases and leading questions you get from all surveys, and the lack of follow-through by agencies to use the results:
_ First, the public response rate has been falling for decades, but particularly since the widespread use of smartphones, to a small fraction of the response rates of say 30 years ago. This also affects voting, the census, and the American Community Survey.
_ Second, it’s easier and more acceptable to lie on surveys now. I’m not sure why this is, maybe too much privacy violations on the part of government and companies like Google. Lot of people make it a sport to mess up survey results as much as possible.
_ Government employees themselves are taking the surveys, including by the agencies sponsoring the surveys, according to USDOT and other federal agencies, and even more troubling, their answers generally count for more (or are weighted more) than those from the general public.
At least one reason why is because local governments (and their vendors) code-switch their public outreach to their bizarre dialect that only subject-expert wonks and geeks have much hope of parsing.
Take “prioritize future transportation system investments,” quoted in the post. It’s inscrutable enough that JM had to quote it rather than do a breezy paraphrase. It could have been something like “decide which streets to improve soonest.”
I did a Substack about it. It’s limited-run and all free, and someday I’ll finish it.
https://heregoestrouble.substack.com/
That last survey closes August 20, but even if you are reading this afterwards, it still might be worth submitting a resopnse. The DOT website said that they would consider responses after the deadline as much as they could.
That survey is in the form of essay answers rather than multiple choice. The link Jonathan provided takes you to the LAB’s web page. LAB has you fill out a form and submit it. They provide you with sample text to use. I didn’t use it for my response. Instead I pointed out that Secretary Duffy is wrong. BIcycles are vehicles. Each bike represents a driver not taking up space on a freeway or other bottleneck. I specifically mentioned the Sylvan tunnel.
I asked for vehicle safety standards for people outside motorized vehicles, especially for large pickups.
I also referenced RFK’s Make America Healthy Again initiative. And I finished with “Thank you for your attention to this matter.” No, I don’t like RFK’s policies; I think he’s dangerous. But when communicating, you have to keep in mind your target audience. So I thought that stealing the regime’s phrasing was a good idea.
Your comment will become public record and will appear on their web page at https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOT-OST-2025-0468-0001/comment You can read others’ comments there too. The web page claims that they only have about 850 comments so far, which seems low for a national survey.
It looks like the US DOT extended the comment deadline to Sept. 8.
I tried (on Wednesday. 8/20) to complete the Oregon Department of Transportation – Transportation Safety Partner Survey, but was told I’m not eligible, evidently because I don’t work in transportation? Unsure what’s up with that; in case anyone here has insights, do share…