The Winner: Columbus, Ohio
Columbus put forward an impressive, holistic vision for how technology can help all residents move better and access opportunity.
The City of Columbus proposed a comprehensive, integrated plan addressing challenges in residential, commercial, freight, and downtown districts using a number of new technologies, including connected infrastructure, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, an integrated data platform, autonomous vehicles, and more. Columbus plans to work closely with residents, community and business leaders, and technical experts to implement their plan. They have committed to collaborate with Austin, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland, and San Francisco to share best practices to help other cities across America replicate their successes. Public roll-out of the various Smart Columbus pilot projects will begin in 2017. To learn more, visit the Smart Columbus homepage.
At U.S. DOT, we expect Columbus – and all seven finalists – to serve as models for cities looking to become smarter. We are committed to providing continued support to all of the finalists by connecting them to partnerships, technical assistance, and funding opportunities. The Department identified $2 billion in Federal funding opportunities to help other American cities implement Smart City projects.
We plan to monitor the progress of Columbus and other cities closely, and to collect and share their success stories and lessons learned. Our hope is that the Smart City Challenge marks an important first step in the transformation of urban mobility and accessibility, not just in Columbus or our finalist cities, but across the country. We’re excited to see where this journey takes us.