The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today awarded a $6.67 million Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) grant to the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Great Plains Rural Freight Technology Corridor Project. The grant will help the project use advanced technologies to deliver traffic, weather and other operational information to commercial truckers to optimize freight routing.

FHWA’s ATCMTD program this year awarded grants valued at $45.2 million to 10 projects using advanced intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies that will improve mobility and safety, provide multimodal transportation options and support underserved communities.

“With these grants, the Biden-Harris Administration is helping communities deliver modern transportation systems that connect people to where they want to go more affordably, efficiently, and safely,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “We’re pleased to support these innovative solutions that will improve driving and public transit for Americans in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike.”

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The Kansas DOT’s Great Plains Rural Freight Technology Corridor Project will improve safety and economic productivity on U.S. 83, a two-lane corridor critical to freight transport in Kansas. Critical Rural Freight Corridor. It installs 100 miles of fiber-optic cable and advanced technologies to deliver traffic, weather, and other operational information to commercial trucking to optimize freight routing.

“ATCMTD grants promote innovations that help expand access to transportation for communities in rural areas and cities alike, improve connectivity, and prepare America’s transportation systems for the future,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack. “The Kansas project will use advanced technologies to help improve freight operations.”

The FHWA’s ATCMTD program funds early deployments of forward-looking technologies that can serve as national models. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) continues the ATCMTD from 2022 through 2026 at the same level of funding with a greater focus on rural transportation, transit, paratransit and protecting the environment. BIL adds several new eligible activities such as advanced transportation technologies to improve emergency evacuation and response by federal, state and local authorities, integrated corridor management systems, advanced parking reservation or variable pricing systems and technologies that enhance congestion pricing and automated vehicle communications.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation