Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Ready to deploy some advanced transportation technology? Check out this FHWA notice!

As a result of the FAST Act, US DOT has launched an Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) initiative. It’s funded at about $60 million a year for the life of the FAST Act. This week, FHWA issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) inviting eligible entities to submit applications for its first round of model technology deployment sites.

Planning agencies, local governments, and others are encouraged to apply, and will see that many of the ideas in this NOFO may reflect things you have in the works, or deployments you’ve been wishing to explore.


Here are a few key facts:


       This year's applications are due June 3, 2016.

       Grants are up to $12 million, and require a 50 percent non-federal share.

       Eligible applicants are states, local governments, transit agencies, MPOs, multi-agency consortia, and consortia of research/academic institutions. 

       The purpose of these grants is "to develop model deployment sites for large scale installation and operation of advanced transportation technologies to improve safety, efficiency, system performance, and infrastructure return on investment."

       There's an illustrative list of things for which these grants could be used: 

o   Advanced traveler information systems;
o   Advanced transportation management technologies;
o   Infrastructure maintenance, monitoring, and condition assessment;
o   Advanced public transportation systems;
o   Transportation system performance data collection, analysis, and dissemination systems;
o   Advanced safety systems, including vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, technologies associated with autonomous vehicles, and other collision avoidance technologies, including systems using cellular technology;
o   Integration of intelligent transportation systems with the Smart Grid and other energy distribution and charging systems;
o   Electronic pricing and payment systems; or
o   Advanced mobility and access technologies, such as dynamic ridesharing and information systems to support human services for elderly and disabled individuals.

Interested in these possibilities? Read the notice. If you have questions about the solicitation, contact Robert Arnold of FHWA’ Office of Transportation Management (Robert.arnold@dot.gov; 202-366-1285) or Egan Smith of the DOT ITS Joint Program Office (egan.smith@dot.gov; 202-366-9224).


The Community Transportation Association is not an official partner in this initiative, but we have some experience in some of these topics. You’re welcome to reach out to me to brainstorm and refine possible ideas or strategies. I’m at Zeilinger@ctaa.org (or chris.zeilinger@gmail.com, if the CTAA address rejects you), or 202-250-4108.

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