Officials with the City of Philadelphia announced it had been awarded a $2 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant for the Philadelphia Digital Right of Way and Mobility (ROW) Improvement project.
The grant, part of the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program, will allow the city to support digitizing street, sidewalk, and curbside space within the project area and developing an online application to communicate ROW information to ROW users, officials said.
“The City is thrilled to have been named an awardee of USDOT’s inaugural SMART Grants Program out of 59 projects across the country. Utilizing technology to ensure a more efficient use of the right-of-way will improve mobility for all Philadelphians equitably regardless of how they choose to travel,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. “We are grateful to Senator Casey, the Open Mobility Foundation, and other partners for their support.”
Officials said the project will build upon other city efforts, including SmartCityPHL’s Smart Loading Zones Pilot project started in Fall 2022, focusing on safe and efficient curb space solutions.
“This funding will allow the City more capacity to improve ROW management through data and technology,” Smart Cities Director Akshay Malik. “This project will help develop new data standards to map ROW in more detail and test new ways to digitally manage the ROW through a pilot in Center City, improving safety for drivers and pedestrians.”
Philadelphia joins Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, San José, Seattle, and Miami-Dade County in submitting collaborative applications Digital Right of Way effort. Partners in this collaboration include: the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF), The Bloomberg Center for Cites at Harvard’s Kennedy (HKS), INFRIX, and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), officials said.