DOT Awards Six States Traffic Improvement Grants
Six states will have extra money to expand freight corridors and implement connected vehicle technologies with the help of $56.6 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation announced this week.
Officials in Denver will receive $6 million to enact efficiencies in their freight corridor. In Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, $6 million will be provided for the deployment of an automated traffic alert system designed to reduce truck congestion, and a system to detect red light violators.
San Francisco will receive nearly $11 million for a connected dynamic tolling system on the Bay Bridge, while Pittsburgh is getting nearly $11 million to improve neighborhood connectivity.
The Texas Department of Transportation will receive nearly $9 million to expand options for commuters, while Marysville, Ohio, and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority in New York will receive nearly $6 million and nearly $8 million, respectively, for connected vehicle programs.
“These grants will enable cities and rural communities to harness new technologies to tackle hard problems like reducing congestion, connecting people to mass transit, and enhancing safety,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
The 2015 highway law established the grants. Transportation leaders on Capitol Hill cheered the announcement on Oct. 13.
“Our communities need the tools necessary to prepare for a future where connected infrastructure and autonomous vehicles alter and improve the flow of traffic on existing roadways,” said Reps. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
