Municipal leaders in southwestern Pennsylvania have an opportunity to apply for Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 Institute Smart Mobility Challenge.

Up to $300,000 in awards are available to municipalities in the 10-county Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission region. Traffic21, a research institute operated out of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, and its affiliated USDOT National University Transportation Center in the College of Engineering, Mobility21, will fund CMU faculty and students to pilot selected projects that identify mobility needs affecting citizens and businesses.

Traffic21 has worked with Pittsburgh to bring benefits of transportation innovations to less densely populated communities, with Pittsburgh serving as the “learning lab” to deploy solutions that can be applied around the nation and the globe. Relevant areas of focus have included critical infrastructure, transportation access, transportation routing, human factors, artificial intelligence, web applications and autonomous vehicles.

Municipalities can use an online form to explain why their community would be a good place for a pilot program. According to the Traffic21 website, CMU will match communities with researchers to develop a project, and two-to-four projects will then receive funding.

An information session will be held Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. in 1202 Hamburg Hall, Carnegie University. RSVP for this session.

Municipalities in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties are eligible.

Smart Mobility Challenge Application
Traffic21 Homepage
Smart Mobility Challenge on the Trib