U.S. Department of Transportation Awards $2 Million to North Carolina’s Multimodal Connected Vehicle Pilot Project |
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Federal Highway Administration
16 June 2020
FHWA 10F-20
Contact: Nancy Singer
Tel.: (202) 366-0660
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today awarded a $2.1 million Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) grant to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for its Multimodal Connected Vehicle Pilot Project. The ATCMTD program this year awarded grants valued at $43.3 million to ten projects that use cutting-edge technologies to improve mobility and safety for America’s travelers.
“This $43.3 million in federal funding will advance innovative technologies that will improve mobility and safety in America’s transportation network,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
The North Carolina project will create a connected environment that can evaluate the impact of connected vehicle technology on driver and pedestrian safety. The project will include an application delivering safety notifications to all multimodal users – pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists. The project will use a communication system to improve transit efficiency using in-vehicle and roadside connected infrastructure and a new transit signal priority system.
FHWA’s ATCMTD program funds early deployments of forward-looking technologies that can serve as national models. This year, the grants will fund projects that use advanced real-time traveler information, vehicle communications technologies, artificial intelligence, regional approaches and bicycle-pedestrian safety features.
“The program selections this year aim to benefit communities across the country by improving safety and efficiency on our roads through the deployment of advanced technologies,” said Federal Highway Administrator Nicole R. Nason. “The North Carolina project is forward-looking in its multimodal approach to assessing the impacts of a connected vehicle environment on all types of travelers.”
The FHWA evaluated 33 applications requesting more than $139 million.
ATCMTD was established under the “Fixing America's Surface Transportation” (FAST) Act. State departments of transportation, local governments, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, and other eligible entities were invited to apply under the program. Now in its fourth year, the program has funded more than 35 projects worth $207 million.