Federal Highway Administration Awards $4.8 Million to Five States and One Tribal Government to Expedite Project Delivery |
|---|
|
Federal Highway Administration
29 April 2016
FHWA 28-16
Friday, April 29, 2016
Contact: Nicole Jones
Tel.: 202-366-0660
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced more than $4.8 million in grants from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration program to fund projects in Arizona, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Vermont and the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government in Fort Yukon, Alaska. The grants will be used to improve safety, mobility and project delivery, and encourage use of innovations that reduce time-to-completion for highway projects nationwide.
“By using innovative technology, we are streamlining projects and shortening their completion times so communities can see the safety and mobility benefits as soon as possible,” said Secretary Foxx. “These investments will help improve connections to jobs, education and health care services, and build ladders of opportunity nationwide.”
Secretary Foxx addressed the changing transportation environment in “Beyond Traffic,” a report released last year by the U.S. Department of Transportation that examines the trends and choices facing America’s transportation infrastructure over the next 30 years. It includes a variety of factors, including a rapidly growing population, increasing freight volume, demographic shifts in rural and urban areas, and a transportation system that faces more frequent extreme-weather events. Gridlock is expected to increase nationwide unless changes are made in the near-term.
“Because America’s transportation system is aging, we no longer have the luxury of time,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “These grants are helping us find and deploy innovative new methods to improve our roads for the rest of the century.”
Since its launch in February 2014, the AID Demonstration program has provided more than $38 million for 52 grant awards to help speed up the use of innovative traffic, safety and construction practices by federal, state, local and tribal government agencies.
The recipients of this round of AID grants are:
| Agency | Amount | Project Description |
|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) | $1,000,000 | The KYTC’s AID funds will be used on Intelligent Compaction (IC) for several large-scale construction projects throughout the state. IC is an innovation supported by the FHWA and will allow the state to document the compaction of materials rather than rely on destructive-testing methods otherwise available. |
| Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) | $1,000,000 | VTrans will use its AID funds to streamline its right-of-way acquisition process on a large roadway project between Pittsford and Brandon. |
| Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) | $768,000 | ADOT’s AID funds will help to deploy a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system to improve assessment of four bridges located on I-15 in the state’s northwest corner. |
| New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) | $600,000 | NYSDOT will use its AID funds on 3Dmodels using sensor technologies on the Kew Gardens Interchange Reconstruction Project in Queens, NY. 3D modeling is supported by the FHWA, and will improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of the project’s planning and construction. |
| Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Muskingum County | $557,600 | ODOT and Muskingum County’s AID funds will be used to replace a bridge on County Road 7 – Cannelville Road using an innovative new system made from steel tub girders and steel sandwich-plate decking. It will reduce decking dead loads, construction time and roadway closures. |
| ODOT | $511,762 | ODOT will use its AID funds to improve document management and workflow needs through e-Construction on two projects. E-Construction is an innovation supported by the FHWA. |
| Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government | $430,250 | Alaska’s Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribe will use these AID funds to replace Ivar’s Bridge using Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil-Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS). Use of GRS-IBS, an innovation supported by FHWA under its “Every Day Counts” (EDC) partnership with state, local and tribal governments, will provide an alternate, low-tech and low-cost solution toward permanent improvements at the bridge. |
| TOTAL | $4,867,612 |