The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently awarded nine projects in eight states $7.6 million in Accelerated Innovation Deployment Demonstration grants to promote state-of-the-art technology in new standards and construction to accelerate construction.
The program helps de-risk government innovation and provides resources to use new technology in construction and project delivery. Funding is available to local governments, state departments of transportation, federal land management agencies, and tribal governments to deploy technology and innovative processes in construction.
“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,” Acting Federal Highway Administrator Kristin White said. “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.”
This round of grants funds integrating technology to support emergency responders, using drones to conduct infrastructure inspections, enhanced work zone safety, debris removal, and other
innovations.
Awardees include:
The Arizona Department of Transportation will receive $1 million to implement a statewide data portal to analyze transportation systems and performance measures related to asset degradation, resiliency and sustainability, and pedestrian and bicycle volume.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will receive $1 million to further develop and expand the Unmanned Aircraft Systems to translate data into actionable information that will optimize the management and operations of the MassDOT Highway Division.
The West Virginia Department of Transportation – Division of Highways will receive $985,000 to use Orthotropic Steel Deck (OSD) technology to replace and restore the Purgitsville Bridge.