Center Scholar Dominic Papa, through his Institute for Digital Progress (iDP), helped Arizona and Maricopa County win a $6 million grant for transportation technology deployment.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration awards the Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment grant program for large-scale deployment of advanced technologies.The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) previously applied for this grant and was denied.
Papa and iDP set out to fix this. iDP created the Smart & Connected AZ Council – a coalition of community leaders working together to leverage technology for the provision of public and private services. This year ADOT applied for the grant in partnership with the iDP’s Council. They won.
ADOT and Maricopa County were awarded $6 million for the Loop 101 Mobility Project to improve safety and existing capacity on the Loop 101 corridor through new transportation technology. The project is slated to deploy a Decision Support System to provide Loop 101 drivers with real-time information on traffic, accidents, and detours, as well as connected vehicle technology to improve accessibility for transit vehicles.