In Pittsburgh, city transportation officials are expanding a program that tests adaptive traffic lights, which combine artificial intelligence and real-time sensor data to adjust signals in a way that improves traffic flow.
In San Francisco, transit leaders are examining how variable-priced tolling on the San Francisco?Oakland Bay Bridge might reduce congestion and figuring out how to prioritize commuters who use nearby carpool and ride-share pickup areas.
In suburban Columbus, Ohio, workers are installing road sensors and retrofitting school buses, snowplows, and other government vehicles with connected technology that allows them to share real-time information on road conditions and critical safety concerns.
These three projects and a dozen or so others are part of the latest push from the U.S. Department of Transportation to promote advanced technology. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx greenlighted $65 million in new federal grants last week that fund those efforts, making the announcement at The White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh. The latest group of grants will be divided among two programs. Eight fall into the advanced transportation technology program, which hands out $56.5 million for projects that are designed to relieve congestion or link poorer neighborhoods with employment opportunities, education, and health services. A separate program, the Mobility on Demand Sandbox, provides almost $8 million for 11 projects that will use smartphone apps...