08 December 2015
Practice Group(s):
Public Policy and
Law;
Global Government
Solutions
U.S. Department of Transportation Smart Cities
Challenge Funding Opportunity
By: Judson M. Greif
Yesterday, the Department of Transportation announced a $40 million funding opportunity
entitled Beyond Traffic: The Smart City Challenge. This award will be given to one mid-sized
city that puts forward bold, data-driven ideas to improve transportation through safety,
reliability, and integration. The Department of Transportation is encouraging cities to present
creative approaches for innovatively addressing the challenges they are facing. The vision of
the Smart City Challenge is to award and encourage integrated approaches to improving
surface transportation performance within a city and integrating these approaches with other
smart city domains such as public safety, public services, and energy.
This is the first funding opportunity made available in response to the President’s “Smart
Cities” initiative announced on September 14th, 2015 that promised to invest over $160
million in federal research and leverage more than 25 new technology collaborations to help
local communities tackle key challenges such as reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime,
fostering economic growth, managing the effects of a changing climate, and improving the
delivery of city services.
You can find more information on the competition here. Secretary of Transportation Anthony
Foxx will be hosting a national webcast today, Tuesday, December 8th to discuss the Smart
Cities Challenge. Finally, the Department will be hosting a Smart Cities Forum on Tuesday,
December 15th from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm.
Author:
Judson M. Greif
Government Affairs Analyst
judson.greif@klgates.com
+1.202.778.9283
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U.S. Department of Transportation Smart Cities Challenge Funding
Opportunity
Anchorage Austin Beijing Berlin Boston Brisbane Brussels Charleston Charlotte Chicago Dallas Doha Dubai Fort Worth Frankfurt
Harrisburg Hong Kong Houston London Los Angeles Melbourne Miami Milan Moscow Newark New York Orange County Palo Alto Paris
Perth Pittsburgh Portland Raleigh Research Triangle Park San Francisco São Paulo Seattle Seoul Shanghai Singapore Spokane
Sydney Taipei Tokyo Warsaw Washington, D.C. Wilmington
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