The Biden-Harris administration has announced that it is accepting applications for the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grants program. In its third year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) program will fund up to $500 million USD over five years on projects focused on smart community technologies and systems that improve transportation safety and efficiency. SMART is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was enacted in 2021.

Public sector entities including communities, states, and tribes may apply for SMART grants for Stage 1 level transportation projects, which will demonstrate technology or build prototypes to solve real-world transportation problems. Stage 2 funding will be available later this year to expand on Stage 1 projects. SMART projects must address one or more of these areas:

• Coordinated automation
• Connected vehicles
• Sensors
• Systems integration
• Delivery/logistics
• Innovative aviation
• Smart grid
• Traffic signals

Many previous smart grants had an IoT component. Smart traffic signal projects were popular, for example, with the cities of Talladega and Anaheim as well as the Maryland Transit Administration developing new systems. Similarly, several projects in California have used smart signaling technology for rail-based traffic, including the use of rail crossing gate detectors coupled with wireless communications to improve safety.

Projects in Iowa, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, and Pennsylvania are using automated detection systems for a variety of applications that involve sensors and other connected devices. New Hampshire’s project is one of the more ambitious. It uses IoT devices and AI to augment inductive loop detectors to collect detailed traffic, vehicle type, and weigh-in-motion data.

Other projects include Ohio’s SMART Rider, which equips transit vehicles with an automated driver assistance system for collision avoidance. Charleston, South Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, are building a system of integrated sensors and responsive signaling at some intersections to predict bicycle and pedestrian crossings and warn drivers.

Fort Worth, Texas, is deploying ground, low altitude, and roadway sensors for micro-weather modeling for the benefit of Fort Worth Smart Port users. Smart Port is described as an “integrated intermodal container yard” and is operated in conjunction with BNSF railroad. The state of Maryland is developing a medical delivery system using unmanned drones to make deliveries on its eastern shore.

“From Alaska to Maine to Puerto Rico, the SMART program has supported locally driven solutions across the country to make communities safer for all users and more connected and accessible. The popularity of this program demonstrates the demand for purpose-driven technology solutions, and we are excited to open the opportunity for another round of applications,” said Dr. Robert C. Hampshire, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology and chief scientist at DOT.