U.S. Department of Transportation Awards $4.4 Million to Ohio’s I-70 Truck Automation Corridor

Topics:  Interstate Highway System

Federal Highway Administration
16 June 2020

FHWA 10G-20
Contact: Nancy Singer
Tel.: (202) 366-0660

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today awarded a $4.4 million Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) grant to the Ohio Department of Transportation for its DriveOhio I-70 Truck Automation Corridor 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.

Ohio’s DriveOhio initiative is advancing the development, testing and deployment of smart mobility solutions. In collaboration with the Indiana Department of Transportation, the project will promote the adoption and integration of truck automation technologies into daily operations by freight carriers that deliver products along the I-70 corridor across Indiana and Ohio.

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. “Ohio’s I-70 Truck Automation Corridor project represents a model for other states in promoting technologies that will make freight transport and America’s economy more efficient.”

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.