$7M in FWHA Grants Doled Out to Fund Innovative Tech for Construction

The Federal Highway Administration is rolling out $7.6 million to nine different technology projects designed to improve infrastructure safety and sustainability.

The grants are part of FHWA’s Accelerated Innovation Demonstration Program, which delivers grants to support Tribal Governments, state departments of transportation, federal land management agencies and local governments to deploy technology and innovative processes in construction.

Over the lifetime of the program, created in 2014, over $103.4 million has been awarded through 136 grants. In this latest round, FHWA received 16 applications and was oversubscribed by $2.9 million.

“FHWA is proud to support innovative partners to harness innovation and use technology to invest in new and proven ideas to bring our construction and project delivery programs into the future,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Kristin White. “These innovative projects are helping us scale state-of-the-art technology and processes to advance safety and accelerate project delivery and construction to save time and valuable resources.”

A description of each of the nine projects is below.

• Arizona DOT, $1 million – a data portal to analyze transportation systems and new innovative performance measures, providing state agencies with data and analyses to inform policymakers.
• Arkansas DOT, $1 million – truck-mounted debris removal devices for use on highways and road, designed to improve maintenance crew and public safety, reduce response times to traffic incidents and reduce delays from blockages.
• Indiana DOT, $1 million – A worksite speed control system to monitor up to four active work zones at once, with generated revenue from enforcement going to improving safety outcomes on work zones
• Massachusetts DOT, $1 million – Develop and expand the Aeronautics Division’s unmanned aircraft system to translate data into actionable items for optimizing operations of the departments’ Highway Division.
• West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Highways, $985,320 – Replace and restore the Purgitsville Bridge in Hampshire County using orthotropic steel deck technology, which will extend the structure’s service life and improve safety and traffic mobility during construction
• Michigan DOT, $815,404 – Replace the moveable Lafayette Bridge in the Michigan Bay Region using the state’s first “Exodermic” bridge deck, an economical alternative that increases structural efficiency and lowers costs.
• Pennsylvania DOT, $759,600 – Integrate Computer Aided Dispatch data feeds from partners like Pennsylvania State Police into the department’s Traffic Management Center Operations software, improving coordination and reducing incident response time. Feeds would be cleaned of personal and criminal investigation-related information.
• Michigan DOT/St. Clair County Road Commission, $704,700 – Reconstruct a deteriorated bridge on Rattle Run Road in the St. Clair Township with concrete materials to provide a long-lasting structure.
• Wyoming DOT, $377,960 – Install a U.S.-first radar avalanche-detection system for US 191/189, improving warning accuracy and mitigation measures to protect the traveling public and WYDOT personnel.