Columbus, Ohio, Awarded 'Smart City' Grant
Columbus, Ohio, has become the U.S. Department of Transportation's final pick to receive the "Smart City Challenge" grant.
According to the DOT website, the city will be awarded $40 million to "define what it means to be a 'Smart City' and become the country's first city to fully integrate innovative technologies — self-driving cars, connected vehicles, and smart sensors — into their transportation network".
Federal officials will head to Columbus on Thursday to make the formal announcement.
In a statement released today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced:
"Columbus' skilled and diverse workforce, state-of-the-art research institutions, and strong-public-private partnerships will help this project succeed. I look forward to working with local leaders and community members to realize the vision of a first-of-its-kind transportation service that increases access to jobs, links neighborhoods, and improves real-time information in a sustainable, safe way."
The central Ohio city bested six other finalists which we recently profiled here on the blog.
Read more about those other finalists: Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh Austin, Portland, and San Francisco.
You can read the original proposal from Columbus or take a look at its "Smart City" video pitch below.
The announcement for Columbus comes on the heels of another recent honor as the city was a recipient of a 2016 APA National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation for the Downtown Columbus Riverfront.
Top image: Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Randall L. Schieber.