SMART CITY

CHALLENGE

 

partment of Transportation

ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF
TODAY AND TOMORROW
“Transportation is not just about concrete and steel. It’s
about how people want to live.”
– Secretary Anthony Foxx
In December 2015, we launched our Smart City Challenge, asking mid-sized cities
across America to share their ideas for how to create an integrated, first-of-its-kind
smart transportation system that would use data, applications, and technology to
help people and goods move faster, cheaper, and more efficiently.
Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), under the leadership of Secretary Anthony Foxx, has
leveraged nearly $350 million in public and private funds for smart city and advanced transportation technologies. Building on
Beyond Traffic 2045, the Smart City Challenge provided a spark for cities looking to revolutionize their transportation systems
to help improve people’s lives. Through the Smart City Challenge, the Department committed up to $40 million to one winning
city. In response, cities leveraged an additional $500 million in private and public funding to help make their Smart City visions
real. And, in October 2016, Secretary Foxx announced an additional $65 million in grants to support community-driven
advanced technology transportation projects in cities across America, including 4 of the finalists in the Smart City Challenge.
By challenging American cities to use emerging transportation technologies to address their most pressing problems, the
Smart City Challenge aimed to spread innovation through a mixture of competition, collaboration, and experimentation.
But the Smart City Challenge was about more than just technology. We called on mayors to define their most pressing
transportation problems and envision bold new solutions that could change the face of transportation in our cities by meeting
the needs of residents of all ages and abilities; and bridging the digital divide so that everyone, not just the tech-savvy, can be
connected to everything their city has to offer.

2

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 WHAT WE LEARNED FROM ACROSS
AMERICA
The response to the challenge was unprecedented—we received 78 applications. Cities from Albuquerque to Anchorage and
Providence to Portland took the Challenge as an opportunity to create blueprints of their cities’ transportation futures.
The applications proposed a wide range of innovative approaches to tackling urban mobility challenges. Here are just a few of
the ideas from the 78 Smart City visions:
SEATTLE – shared data would
provide dynamic routing for
truck traffic, promote off-peak
and overnight deliveries, and
enable car share operators to
deliver packages

LAS VEGAS – new connected autonomous
shuttles would transport workers to Las
Vegas Boulevard, and new solar powered
electric vehicle charging stations would help
reduce emissions

3

DETROIT – partnerships with industry
leaders in the automotive and technology
fields and academic institutions would
help provide access to electric car shares,
automated shuttles, and on-demand
delivery trucks through integrated mobility
apps

NEW ORLEANS – dynamicallyrouted on-demand minibuses would
provide affordable first mile/last mile
transportation options to underserved
communities

BOSTON – “radically
programmable” city streets
with dynamic markings that
can change from loading zones,
to thoroughfares, to spaces for
street hockey, depending on
the time of day and season

ATLANTA – a network of
multimodal transportation centers
serving as hubs for mobility,
economic development, and
community activity

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 While the cities were diverse, many of the 78 applicants
faced similar urban mobility challenges:
Providing first-mile and lastmile service for transit users
to connect underserved
communities to jobs
The typical job is
accessible to only about
27 percent of its
metropolitan workforce
by transit in 90 minutes
or less.

Coordinating data collection
and analysis across systems
and sectors
10:25

28 percent of all of the
transit agencies in the
United States have open
data systems that freely
provided transit times to
the public.

Limiting the impacts of
climate change and reducing
carbon emissions
The 78 applicant cities
represent over one
billion metric tons of
CO2 emissions per year.

4

CO2

Facilitating the movement of
goods into and within a city
Trucks stuck in stop-and-go traffic in
metropolitan areas cost shippers an
estimated $28 million annually in truck
operating costs and wasted fuel.

$$

$

Reducing inefficiency in
parking systems and payment
An estimated 30 percent of traffic in
urban areas is caused by cars looking
for parking.

Optimizing traffic flow on
congested freeways and
arterial streets
Outdated traffic signal timing causes
more than 10 percent of all traffic delay
on major routes in urban areas.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 How We Move

44

cities proposed projects to test the use of
automated shared use vehicles to help travelers
connect to their destinations.

How We Move Things

11

cities envisioned improving urban freight delivery
by implementing smarter curb space management
(through sensors, dynamic reservations, and other
technologies) to speed loading and unloading.

How We Adapt

17

cities proposed using inductive wireless charging
to charge electric vehicles, buses, or shuttles.

How We Move Better

53

cities proposed implementing Dedicated Short
Range Communication (DSRC) to connect vehicles
to infrastructure and each other.

How We Grow Opportunity

9

cities proposed providing free public WiFi on buses,
taxis, and public spaces. The seven Smart City
Challenge finalists proposed over 60 unique strategies
to increase access to jobs, provide training, reach
underserved areas, and ensure connectivity for all.

How We Align Decisions and Dollars

45
5

cities proposed implementing a unified traffic
or transportation data analytics platform, which
would help them make better decisions with their
limited resources.

?
SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 ROUND TWO: SEVEN FINALISTS CREATE
PLANS TO IMPLEMENT THEIR VISIONS
7 Finalists

Austin • Columbus • Denver
Kansas City • Pittsburgh
Portland • San Francisco
The U.S. DOT named seven finalists: Austin, Columbus,

prioritize freight movements, apps that provide truckers

Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland, and San Francisco.

with information about routes and parking, automated

The seven finalists dreamed big: they planned to implement

low speed freight delivery systems that enable the

autonomous shuttles to move city residents, to electrify

consolidation of deliveries, and automated trucks.

city fleets, and to collectively equip over thirteen thousand
buses, taxis, and cars with vehicle-to-vehicle Dedicated
Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology. Over a
three month period, these finalists worked closely with the
Department, their residents, and each other to develop
detailed plans to put their Smart City visions into action.
Each received $100,000 for public outreach, the production
of pitch videos, and intensive technical assistance from
Federal experts and private partners to further concept
development. Through this process, the finalists refined
their vision for what a smart city could be:

➔➔ Smart cities are taking the lead in how we adapt to
climate change by installing electric vehicle infrastructure,
converting public fleets and buses to electric vehicles,
incentivizing shared-use mobility options, and closely
monitoring air pollution to identify and address emissions
hotspots.
➔➔ Advances in technology are allowing cities to collect,
analyze, and apply data to discover how we move better.
➔➔ Smart cities are taking steps to ensure that new
technologies grow opportunity for all by connecting
underserved communities to job centers through

➔➔ Smart cities are improving how we move by supporting
more affordable and sustainable mobility choices,
improving the quality and reliability of transit services,
enhancing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and
making better use of the space allocated to parking.
➔➔ Smart cities promote the efficiency, reliability and safety
of how we move things through traffic signals that

6

affordable, reliable transportation options and by bridging
the digital divide.
➔➔ To enhance the capabilities of the public to understand
transportation challenges and implement innovative
solutions, cities are looking to develop new integrated
data platforms to make better decisions and align
decisions and dollars.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 HOW WE MOVE
Our population is expected to grow by almost 70 million over the next three
decades—and mid-sized cities are expected to grow at three times the rate of
the rest of the country. This growth is expected to strain urban infrastructure
across all transportation modes. Travelers in cities today face a range of
challenges: heavy traffic, a lack of parking, trip planning complexity, and unsafe
biking and walking conditions.
Despite these challenges, cities are experiencing a resurgence. Americans—
young Americans especially—increasingly choose to live in cities and bike, walk,
or take transit, rather than drive, to get where they are going. Smart cities will
improve how we move by promoting more affordable and sustainable mobility
choices through improved traveler information, intermodal connections, and
new modes of transportation that connect people to destinations without
needing to drive.
To combat congestion, the Smart City Challenge finalists proposed a wide
range of strategies to make alternatives to single occupancy vehicle travel more
convenient. Strategies proposed by a majority of the finalists included:

Intelligent Traffic
Signals
Building on U.S. DOT research on
connected vehicles and adaptive
signal control, Denver developed
plans to integrate adaptive signal
control and smart freeway ramp
metering to optimize traffic flow
on two major arterial highways.
Adaptive signal controls and smart
freeway meters adjust signal
timing to accommodate changing
traffic patterns by receiving and
processing data from sensors.
Denver will also test using Denver
will also test using DSRC data from
connected vehicles data from
connected vehicles to develop the
next generation of dynamic traffic
signal control.

➔➔ Deploying integrated mobility marketplaces mobility marketplaces to allow
travelers to easily plan multimodal trips, compare trip costs and purchase
mobility services.
➔➔ Expanding bikeshare, carshare, and rideshare options.
➔➔ Improving transit service reliability by establishing bus rapid transit
corridors, installing signal systems that prioritize buses, and getting real
time transit information into the hands of riders.
➔➔ Ensuring the safety of pedestrians and cyclists with pedestrian detection and
warning systems on trucks and buses and at busy intersections.

Connected Vision Zero
Corridors
San Francisco proposed installing
multimodal intelligent traffic
signal systems equipped with
DSRC technology at high priority
pedestrian collision locations to
improve pedestrian safety, reduce
idling, and prioritize transit and

The seven finalists proposed
to add more than

emergency vehicles to improve
reliability and response times.

1,000 advanced
traffic signals and
13,000 vehicles
with dedicated short range
communications (DSRC)
technology.

7

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 San Francisco
The Challenge
The Goal
The Solution

As the search for affordable housing continues to push people commuting into San Francisco
further from the city, the roads into downtown experience ever growing congestion.
Grow the number of regional commuters that use carpooling to improve affordability, increase
mobility and relieve congestion on roads and transit.
➔➔ Create connected regional carpool lanes and designate curb space for carpool pick-up/drop-off
➔➔ Make carpooling easy by developing a smartphone app for instant carpool matching and establish
carpool pickup plazas for riders without smart phones
➔➔ Use connected infrastructure to monitor and optimize the performance of carpool lanes

8

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 HOW WE MOVE
THINGS
Freight volumes are projected to increase by more than 40 percent over the
next 30 years, straining our transportation system. As demand for freight
in urban areas grow, challenges will increase for “first-mile” movement of
goods out of urban factories and ports, and “last-mile” movement of goods
from freight hubs to their final destinations. Truck drivers face special
challenges in an urban setting - from determining a route, to finding a place
to park, to getting around safely among cyclists and pedestrians.
The finalists to the Smart City Challenge proposed a range of innovative
solutions to address their freight challenges:

Green Freight
Freight vehicles are a major contributor
to air pollution in urban areas. To
tackle this challenge, several finalists
proposed adopting truck platooning
and freight signal prioritization. In
truck platooning, two or more trucks
driving one behind the other are
connected through onboard technology
this allows them to be driven much
closer together, which improves
aerodynamics, saves fuel, and reduces
pollution and CO2 emissions. Freight
signal prioritization allows intelligent
traffic signals to detect freight traffic
and give them priority at intersections,

➔➔ Improving reliability of freight by installing signals that prioritize truck

reducing stop-and-go freight traffic.

movement along freight corridors.
➔➔ Providing truckers with real-time information on parking availability
and truck routes.
➔➔ Demonstrating the potential for automated and connected freight
vehicles to make freight movements safer and more efficient.

Freight Lockers
Austin proposed installing special
lockers at new multimodal Smart
Stations. Partnering with a major
delivery and logistics company, freight
lockers would be established at both
the downtown and residential stations
to facilitate package and grocery

Truck platooning using
automated and connected
vehicle technologies could
reduce truck CO2 emissions by

7 percent.

9

deliveries. In areas with limited access
to fresh food (known as “food deserts”),
food lockers equipped with availability
and temperature sensors would allow
residents to pick up their grocery
orders on the way to or from their
destinations.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 Denver
The Challenge

The health of Denver’s economy is closely connected to efficient freight movements, yet
growing populations along key freight corridors are creating congestion and reducing
reliability, while the air pollution and noise caused by freight traffic disproportionately impact
underserved communities.

The Goal
The Solution

10

Make freight delivery more reliable and reduce air pollution, idling, and engine noise.
Establish a connected freight efficiency corridor with comprehensive freight parking and
traffic information systems, freight signal prioritization, designated parking and staging areas.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 HOW WE ADAPT
Climate change is a major threat to our way of life. Transportation accounts
for 27 percent of our Nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Air pollution and
noise caused by traffic also affect the health and quality of life of Americans,
particularly those near congested urban corridors.
Smart cities are leading the charge in the fight against climate change by
shifting demand away from congested roadways to more sustainable modes
and by making electric vehicles a practical, affordable option for more of their
residents. Proposed strategies to increase the use of electric vehicles included:
➔➔ Supporting the use of electric vehicles by taxi and transportation
network company (TNC) fleets.
➔➔ Converting public fleets, such as garbage trucks, buses and police cars,

Wireless Charging
Portland will install stationary wireless
inductive charging devices as part
of a commercial pilot. Because the
technology is wireless, drivers will
be able to recharge electric vehicles
by hovering over a charging coil or
selecting routes with infrastructure
that can refill their car’s battery as they
drive. This technology will be used to
charge semi-autonomous electrified
shuttles on circulator routes that link
lower-density neighborhoods and
employment areas to high-frequency
transit lines.

to electric vehicles.
➔➔ Subsidizing the purchase and use of electric vehicles through tax
exemptions, energy credits, and bulk buy and loan programs.
➔➔ Installing electric vehicle charging stations.

Electric Vehicle Fleets
and Infrastructure
Each finalist proposed policies to
encourage the electrification of
municipal and transit fleets. For

Pittsburgh plans to convert

36,365 street lights
to LED technology, providing an
energy saving of 60 percent.

example, Austin planned to work
with taxi and transportation network
companies to support the conversion
of private fleets to electric vehicles.
Many of the finalists also proposed
to install charging stations, led by
Denver’s proposal, which included
the installation of a network of 120
charging stations.

11

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 Pittsburgh
The Challenge
The Goal
The Strategy

Pittsburgh has one of the highest air pollution levels in the country, and poor air quality is well
known to cause serious health and social impacts.
Jump-start electric conversion to reduce transportation emissions by 50% by 2030. Through
demonstration projects in street lighting, electric vehicles, and power generation.
➔➔ Convert up to 40,000 streetlights to LEDs to reduce energy use
➔➔ Establish smart street lights with sensors to monitor local air quality
➔➔ Install electric vehicle charging stations
➔➔ Convert the city’s public fleet to electric vehicles

12

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 HOW WE MOVE BETTER
New technologies, like automated and connected vehicles, will soon make
travel significantly safer and more convenient. Advances in data processing
are enabling governments and private companies alike to improve
transportation services and better target investments. Government is evolving
to support these beneficial technologies, while working to ensure they are
safe and secure.

Data-Driven Mobility
The Smart City Challenge finalists
recognize that to get smarter they
need to enhance their ability to collect,
process, analyze and share data. They
plan to take in data from an immense
array of sources from connected
DSRC infrastructure, crowdsourced

Cities want to hit the ground running on connected vehicles by adding DSRC

data from smartphone users, and a

technology to fleet vehicles first, so they can quickly demonstrate its potential

variety of new sensors that can detect

to improve safety, decrease congestion, and reduce emissions. Cities are also

everything from air quality to road

pioneering new ways to collect, integrate, and analyze travel data to guide

temperatures and conditions, from

policies and investments, improve transparency, encourage collaboration,

shots fired to earthquakes. They also

and optimize system performance.

understand that only by building a

The finalists proposed a wide range of strategies to collect and analyze
transportation system data, including:

resilient, secure privacy-driven data
platforms will the public feel confident
sharing their data.

➔➔ Installing closed-circuit cameras and sensors to collect data on vehicle
movements, transit reliability, and pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
➔➔ Collecting data from vehicle probes, connected vehicles, and
connected infrastructure.
➔➔ Establishing open data platforms and inviting citizens to participate in
hackathons.

New technologies are

emerging that aim
to change the way active
transportation data is collected,
making it less expensive and
easier to collect, resulting in

more reliable
data.

13

Mobility Marketplaces
Six of the seven finalists proposed
creating ‘mobility marketplaces’ to
allow residents to find and pay for a
variety of transportation options –
bikeshare, carshare, transit, rideshare
– all in one place. These marketplaces
would have a single shared payment
platform, which could be managed via
smartphone app, website, or payment
card. Portland proposed integrating
dynamic pricing and incentives
into their mobility marketplace so
that during a sporting event, for
example, special discounts could be
made available through the mobility
platform to promote the use of transit
or bikeshare.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 Kansas City
The Challenge
The Goal
The Strategy

Despite advances in transportation technology and urban planning, we still lack basic data on
how cities work and how infrastructure affects the everyday lives of our citizens.
Advance our understanding of urban travel and quality of life to inform the transportation
decisions of citizens and public officials.
Make the urban core a more ‘Quantified Community,’ by collecting and analyzing data on:
➔➔ Travel flows
➔➔ Traffic crashes
➔➔ Energy usage
➔➔ Air pollution
➔➔ Residents’ health and physical activity
Make these data available through an open data architecture, to allow for unprecedented
studies in transportation engineering, urban systems operation, planning, and the social
sciences, promote entrepreneurship and empower citizens.

14

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 HOW WE GROW
OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Bridging the Digital
Divide
A ‘digital divide’ separates those
with access to the Internet,

Transportation policy and investments must empower Americans to connect to

smartphones, and credit, and

opportunity and to come together, not grow further apart. In cities, historic racial

those who do not benefit from

and economic divides have been perpetuated by planning, infrastructure, and

these services. Kansas City

socioeconomic policies that have isolated neighborhoods, encouraged sprawl,

would build connected kiosks

enabled economic segregation, and overlooked pockets of poverty. To bridge the

that would provide not only

digital divide and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, cities must plan for a

transit information or Wi-Fi, but

future transportation system that meets the needs of all city residents, not just the

information on local libraries,

wealthy or tech savvy.

parks, and even access to job

Cities recognize that innovation can’t just be pursued for its own sake; they want
to use these technologies to create new mobility options to connect their residents
to jobs, workforce training, education, and healthcare; and make sure the benefits
of these investments accrue to all parts of the community. The seven finalists
proposed over 60 unique strategies to increase access to jobs, provide training,
reach underserved areas, and ensure connectivity for all. The Challenge finalists

applications. Austin would create
Smart Stations to reconnect
residents gentrification has pushed
away from downtown with new
mobility options like vanpools, , bus
rapid transit, carshare, and more.

proposed a number of ways to ensure the benefits of smart city technology reach
everyone, including:
➔➔ Improving first-mile/last-mile connections to transit, whether through
subsidized whether through subsidized TNCs, car and bike share (TNCs), car
and bike share, or autonomous shuttles
➔➔ Expanding access to free public Wi-Fi on buses, taxis, and parks
➔➔ Developing specialized apps for non-English speakers and people with
disabilities
➔➔ Providing universal transportation payment cards for the unbanked and
subsidizing the use of a range of travel services by people with low incomes

Columbus aims to reduce infant mortality
in Franklin County by 40% by creating smart
corridors and smart payment projects
that improve access to pre-natal car for
individuals in underserved neighborhoods.

Accessibility Apps
Portland sought to develop a
mobile app to benefit people with
disabilities. One app would help
mobility device users navigate
their system of Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant
ramps by offering trip planning
based on accessibility. It would
support the visually impaired by
highlighting locations with audible
traffic signals. The app would also
provide data to the City about
where people with disabilities are
traveling, which will inform the
development and future updates of
the City’s ADA transition plan. The
app could include specific features
for paratransit service, such as
including information about how
to use fixed route service or about
subsidized ridesharing services.
Portland planned to host a
hackathon to develop new services
and improve existing services using
open source data.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 Austin
The Challenge

In the early 1960s, the I-35 highway was built through the low-income neighborhoods, dividing
the city into West and East Austin. The region’s racial divides have become increasingly
acute for its minority populations, which struggle with higher poverty rates, more isolated
neighborhoods, lower educational attainment, and lower employment levels.

The Goal
The Strategy

Connect underserved communities to economic opportunities and reduce the spread of
poverty.
Austin will create a Mobility Marketplace that will improve access to mobility services for
unbanked users, older Americans, and those with disabilities. Multi-lingual Smart Ambassadors
will partner with community organizations to demonstrate new technologies and mobility
services and engage with citizens in underserved communities to understand their needs.

16

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 HOW WE ALIGN
DECISIONS AND
DOLLARS
As the transportation system has grown and become more complex,
transportation decision-making has become more difficult, transportation
projects have become more costly, and revenue challenges have grown. In
recent decades, investments have failed to keep pace with increasing needs and
much of our infrastructure has fallen into disrepair. The seven finalists propose
a wide range of strategies to use technology to create efficiencies, improve
public services, support innovation, and engage their citizens in the planning
process.
➔➔ Building integrated data platforms that combine public and private-sector
data to improve decision-making, both in real-time and through historical

Community Parklets
Already located throughout San
Francisco, parklets are public spaces
built on top of on-street parking
spaces, typically providing seating
and other pedestrian amenities. San
Francisco plans to expand parklets
throughout the City, obtaining
community input on design
elements, installing Wi-Fi kiosk
access points, and documenting
impacts on its users. The goal of the
parklets is to increase pedestrian
and cyclist amenities and increase
digital equity through greater access
to Internet connectivity.

analysis.
➔➔ Developing new open data portals with real-time Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) to increase transparency, spur innovation, and support
research.
➔➔ Using new data sources, such as sensors, video processing, smartphone
app data, and crowdsourcing, to inform policymakers and promote better
allocation of limited taxpayer dollars.

Reducing Commutes
by Optimizing Land
Use
Rapid population growth is forcing
Austin to rethink how it uses
its land. New mobility services,
enhanced data integration, or
electric vehicles will not on their
own solve these challenges. Austin

A survey by the National Association of
Realtors found Americans strongly prefer
walkable neighborhoods with parks and
transit options nearby.

is exploring ways to create walkable
and bikeable urban environments
and reduce lengthy, sprawlinducing commutes by reclaiming
land that has traditionally been
allocated for road expansions and
parking facilities. Through property
redevelopment, infill, and transit
oriented development, Austin
intends to cultivate stronger, less
car-dependent and more equitable
communities.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 Pittsburgh
Portland
The Challenge

People in underserved communities are at a higher risk of missing out on new technological
advances; these citizens may lack access to new tools, and more significantly, their needs and
issues may not feed into the data collection and study that guides development of those tools.

The Goal
The Strategy

Ensure that all communities have access new transportation options and improved methods for
making informed transportation choices.
Make community members a part of the development and implementation of Smart City
technologies from beginning to end through a public education campaign and a smart city video
contest.
Establish partnerships with community organizations to ensure that low-income, disabled,
older, minority, and immigrant residents have a voice.
Engage with residents through walking and van tours, “pop ups”, idea walls, supper chats and
youth-led canvas initiatives.

18

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 THE WINNER: COLUMBUS, OHIO
Columbus put forward an impressive, holistic vision for how technology can help all residents move
better and access opportunity .
The City of Columbus proposed a comprehensive, integrated plan addressing challenges in residential, commercial, freight,
and downtown districts using a number of new technologies, including connected infrastructure, electric vehicle charging
infrastructure, an integrated data platform, autonomous vehicles, and more. Columbus plans to work closely with residents,
community and business leaders, and technical experts to implement their plan. They have committed to collaborate
with Austin, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland, and San Francisco to share best practices to help other cities across
America replicate their successes. Public roll-out of the various Smart Columbus pilot projects will begin in 2017.

Columbus Smart City Challenge Implementation Vision

VISION
SMART
LOGISTICS

Columbus Connected
Transportation Network

RESIDENTIAL
DISTRICT

SA

FETY

Integrated Data
Exchange

COMMERCIAL
DISTRICT

M

O BILIT Y

CONNECTED
VISITORS

Enhanced Human
Services

DOWNTOWN
DISTRICT

A
O DDERS O Y
PP
O R T U NIT

L

OUTCOMES

DEPLOYMENT
DISTRICTS

(CCTN)

CONNECTED
RESIDENTS

F

ENABLING
TECHNOLOGIES

ACCESS
TO JOBS

SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORTATION

Electric Vehicle
Infrastructure

LOGISTICS
DISTRICT

CL
I M AT E
CHA GE
N

At U.S. DOT, we expect Columbus – and all seven finalists – to serve as models for cities looking to become smarter. We are
committed to providing continued support to all of the finalists by connecting them to partnerships, technical assistance,
and funding opportunities. The Department identified $2 billion in Federal funding opportunities to help other American
cities implement Smart City projects.
We plan to monitor the progress of Columbus and other cities closely, and to collect and share their success stories and
lessons learned. Our hope is that the Smart City Challenge marks an important first step in the transformation of urban
mobility and accessibility, not just in Columbus or our finalist cities, but across the country. We’re excited to see where this
journey takes us.
19

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 Columbus
The Challenge

Each year in Franklin County, 150 babies die before their first birthday. And, twice as many
African-American babies are likely to die as white children. In Columbus, these deaths are
concentrated in neighborhoods in which there are lower levels of income, education and health.
One neighborhood loses four times as many babies as in the neighborhood next door.

The Goal
The Solution

Reduce infant mortality by 40 percent and to cut the health disparity gap in half by 2020.
Columbus will leverage a new central connected traffic signal and integrated transportation data
system to develop a suite of applications to deliver enhanced human services to residents and
visitors. The City plans to integrate an electronic appointments and scheduling platform for doctor
visits with transit tracking so that rescheduling is automated and expecting mothers need not
wait weeks to reschedule appointments. These applications include a multi-modal trip planning
application, a common payment system for all transportation modes, a smartphone application
for assistance to persons with disabilities, and integration of travel options at key locations for
visitors. Columbus will establish a smart corridor connecting underserved neighborhoods to jobs
and services. The smart corridor will enhance Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service by installing smart
traffic signals, smart street lighting, traveler information and payment kiosks, and free public
Wi-Fi along the route. Six electric, accessible, autonomous vehicles will be deployed to expand the
reach of the BRT system to additional retail and employment centers.

20

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

 WHAT COMES NEXT
"From automated vehicles to connected infrastructure
to data analytics, technology is transforming how we
move around our country, and some of the most exciting
innovation is happening at the local level"
– Secretary Anthony Foxx .
In October 2016, Secretary Foxx announced an additional $65 million in grants
to support community-driven advanced technology transportation projects —
including support for four of the Smart City Challenge finalists to implement ideas
developed as part of their applications. In all, these advanced technology grants
will fund 19 technology-driven projects in local areas to fight congestion, increase
connectivity, and improve access to opportunity.
Smart Cities Challenge finalists receiving grants included:
➔➔ Pittsburgh - nearly $11 million to deploy smart traffic signal technology –
proven to reduce delays at street lights by up to forty percent – along major
travel corridors.
➔➔ San Francisco - nearly $11 million to implement connected vehicle technologies
to allow the signal system to detect red light-violating vehicles and adjust

The Smart City
Challenge finalists’
proposals identified
more than 150
industry and nonprofit partners
pledging more
than $500 million
in resources,
technology
solutions, and
technical support
to implement smart
city initiatives.

timing, and personal wireless devices to prioritize pedestrian travel and safety
at intersections. This includes a pilot of a shared, electric, autonomous shuttle.
➔➔ Denver - $6 million to upgrade its traffic management center, build a
connected vehicle network, and install automated pedestrian detection at
difficult crosswalks.
➔➔ Portland - the transit agency, TriMet, will receive funds to integrate shareduse mobility options into its existing trip planning app, allowing users to plan
efficient trips even without nearby transit access.
Projects supported by these grants are building on the success of the Smart City
Challenge. Leveraging funding from local and private partners, these cities will
bring cutting-edge technology to their communities, demonstrating in real-world
settings the tools that will transform our transportation system in the next 30
years.

21

SMART CITY CHALLENGE