The Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technology Deployment grants for “early deployments of cutting-edge technologies” go to 10 projects.
The Transportation Department’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on Monday awarded $53.2 million in Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technology Deployment (ATCMTD) grants to 10 projects across the country.
FHWA’s ATCMTD grant program, which was established under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, “funds early deployments of cutting-edge technologies that can serve as national models to improve travel for commuters and business,” according to a press release. The administration said it evaluated 51 applications requesting more than $265 million.
The grants will fund projects ranging from advanced real-time traveler information to integrated corridor management and vehicle communication technologies.
The Oregon Department of Transportation received the largest amount of money — $12 million — for its Oregon Smart Mobility Network. The network uses 30 technologies, including advanced traveler information systems and infrastructure maintenance, monitoring and condition assessment to create a transportation planning and management system across all modes.
Both the University of Alabama and Contra Costa Transportation Authority received about $8 million. The university’s Advanced Connected Transportation Infrastructure and Operations Network is a “multiagency partnership to leverage technologies to enhance efficiency, capacity and safety on [Tuscaloosa’s] road network,” with the goal of improving travel reliability.
FHWA awarded nearly $7 million to the Texas Department of Transportation for the I-10 Corridor Coalition Truck Parking Availability System. The truck parking availability detection and information dissemination system will be at 37 public truck parking locations from California to Texas and will make real-time parking information available to truck drivers and dispatchers.
Other ATCMTD grants included:
• Nearly $5 million to the Delaware Department of Transportation for the Artificial Intelligence Integrated Transportation Management System, which collects and analyzes data from freeways, traffic signals and connected and autonomous vehicles and distributes real-time traffic information and generates congestion solutions.
• $3 million to the Utah Department of Transportation for Utah Connected Project, which will fund data-sharing portals used by public and private sectors and industry and connected and autonomous vehicles.
• $2.75 million to the Nebraska Department of Transportation for its Multi-State Integrated Corridor Management project. The funds will be used to demonstrate the full-scale application of information and communication management technologies and regional data sharing along a more than 1,000 mile stretch of I-80 that spans Utah, Nebraska and Wyoming.
• $2.69 million to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for the Work Zone Reservation and Traveler Information System, which will provide “accurate, standardized and real-time work zone information across nearly 41,000 miles of roadway through Pennsylvania and Ohio.”
• $2.5 million to the Georgia Department of Transportation for connected vehicle technologies. The project aims to outfit all interstate ramps and signalized intersections on major roads in the Atlanta region with “proper vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies to communicate with private, fleet and transit vehicles.” The department also plans to develop an information-sharing portal in which developers and traffic management partners can access real-time data to improve or optimize the effectiveness of their products or services.
• $2.4 million to the Colorado Department of Transportation for the Wolf Creek Pass Advanced Technology Deployment project. The funds will be used to “improve safety and operations for commercial and passenger vehicles by integrating connected vehicle technology with integrated transportation systems in southwestern Colorado.”
FHWA made available $60 million in ATCMTD grants in 2018 after providing $110 million to 18 projects in 13 states in 2016 and 2017.