Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced that it is accepting applications for the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program.
As a part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the program will fund up to $500 million in grants over fove years to conduct demonstration projects focused on advanced technologies and systems to improve transportation safety and efficiency.
“The SMART Grant program has helped communities, states, and tribes across America deploy new kinds of transportation technology solutions to improve safety and resilience,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “As the program enters its third year of funding, we’re excited for even more communities to get funding and support to develop technological solutions to their most pressing transportation challenges.”
USDOT will accept applications for Stage 1 Planning and Prototyping grants. During Stage 1, the SMART program will fund technology demonstrations and prototypes that solve real-world transportation problems and build data and technology capacity for State, local, and Tribal governments. Later this year, recipients of Stage 1 grants will be eligible to expand their projects through the first of several Stage 2 grant opportunities.
The funding opportunity is open to public sector entities seeking to carry out transportation projects that demonstrate at least one of the following technology areas:
- Coordinated automation
- Connected vehicles
- Sensors
- Systems integration
- Delivery/logistics
- Innovative aviation
- Smart grid
- Traffic signals
“From Alaska to Maine to Puerto Rico, the SMART program has supported locally driven solutions across the country to make communities safer for all users and more connected and accessible. The popularity of this program demonstrates the demand for purpose-driven technology solutions, and we are excited to open the opportunity for another round of applications,” said Dr. Robert C. Hampshire, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and Chief Scientist at USDOT.
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Source: USDOT
