Having completed the first phase of its Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment Program earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) has now launched the second phase, which will see the technologies deployed and tested at the three pilot sites.
U.S. DOT has awarded three cooperative agreements, collectively worth more than $45 million to initiate the design/build/test phase of the CV Pilot Deployment Program at the test sites in southern Wyoming, New York City, and Tampa, Fla. Managed by the U.S. DOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS-JPO), the program is a national effort to deploy, test, and operationalize cutting-edge mobile and roadside technologies and enable multiple connected vehicle applications. These technologies and applications have been brought together in innovative ways to have an immediate impact—to save lives, improve personal mobility, enhance economic productivity, reduce environmental impacts, and transform public agency operations.
In the first phase of the effort, each site prepared a comprehensive deployment concept to ensure a rapid and efficient connected vehicle capability rollout. Now, the three sites will embark on a 20-month phase of activity to design, build, and test the country’s most complex and extensive deployment of integrated wireless in-vehicle, mobile device, and roadside technologies.
The primary objective for the Wyoming CV Pilot Deployment is to reduce the number of weather related incidents on the I-80, which is a freight-intensive route with a daily volume of 11,000 to 16,000 vehicles, many of which are heavy-duty trucks. The objective of the New York City CV Pilot Deployment is to improve the safety of travelers and pedestrians through connected technologies. The Florida pilot, headed by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA), will deploy a variety of CV technologies on and around the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway reversible express lanes in downtown Tampa.
