COTA Congratulates Columbus on Winning Smart City Challenge

Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) President/CEO Curtis Stitt today commended the City of Columbus for winning the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Smart City Challenge. 

U.S. DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx awarded a $40 million pledge from the Department of Transportation (DOT) to Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther on Thursday. The event was held at the Douglas Community Recreation Center in the Linden neighborhood. Linden will be a key area where investments in new technologies will connect residents to opportunities. COTA's CMAX Bus Rapid Transit project will operate on Cleveland Avenue in Linden beginning in 2018

"COTA is pleased to be a part of this historic and transformative effort," Stitt said. "We look forward to working closely with Mayor Ginther and the Smart Columbus partners to implement initiatives that use technology to expand opportunities to everyone in our community."

Projects include the expansion of COTA's Easton Transit Center for the deployment of an electric autonomous vehicle fleet to be maintained at the transit center.  This "smart logistics" project will enable job seekers to access opportunities with the many employers located throughout the Easton area.

Other critical project components involving COTA include deployment of collision avoidance technologies, Traffic Signal Priority (TSP) Upgrades along the CMAX corridor and a universal transportation payment system application.

In addition to the $40 million from DOT, Columbus was awarded $10 million from Seattle-based Vulcan Inc. A local investment of $90 million has been pledged to match the $50 million award, resulting in $140 million of new investment to enhance mobility for everyone in Columbus.