Smart Columbus will continue as innovation lab following deployment of Smart City Challenge initiatives

The federal involvement with Smart Columbus has concluded, but the city and its partners say the initiative will go on as a collaborative innovation lab.

Columbus, Ohio, was awarded $40 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) through the first Smart City Challenge in 2016. Columbus bested 77 other municipalities for the grant by putting forth what USDOT called a “holistic vision for how technology can help all residents move better and access opportunity.”

The federal grant award was combined with an additional $10 million from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and $19 million in city, state and county cost-share, that allowed Columbus to deploy “the most comprehensive portfolio of emerging mobility technologies of any city in five years, showing how safer, cleaner and more equitable transportation options can create opportunity for Columbus residents and prepare the region for the future.”

With the delivery of the Smart City Challenge grants complete, the city and the Columbus Partnership says Smart Columbus will be sustained as an agile, collaborative innovation lab that benefits the Columbus Region by anticipating and advancing what is new and next at the intersection of technology and community good. Five of the eight grant-funded projects -- Pivot, ParkColumbus, smart mobility hubs, the connected vehicle environment and the Smart Columbus Operating System -- will be sustained by the city of Columbus past the term of the grant, making new mobility tools available to Columbus travelers as mobility behaviors rebound post-pandemic.

“Through the Smart City Challenge, we’ve led the country in deploying new mobility technologies, but we’ve never been interested in tech for tech’s sake. These innovations served to advance prosperity in our community, help expectant mothers access health care and food, distribute meals and masks to neighbors in need, and help essential workers get to work during the pandemic,” said Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. “When we deploy technology in partnership with the community, we can address some of our most pressing challenges. Smart Columbus will continue to explore how mobility innovation, climate technologies, digitalization and other emerging technologies can help us address complex societal problems, respond to disruption and generate economic opportunity.”

A final report on the USDOT’s $40-million grant was published June 15 that highlighted key findings including:

• The Linden LEAP -- the nation’s first daily-operating public self-driving shuttle in a residential area -- transported nearly 130,000 meals and 15,000 masks from St. Stephen’s Community House to neighbors in need during the pandemic.
• Pregnant individuals in the Smart Columbus prenatal trip assistance evaluation project who were randomly assigned to receive enhanced smart transportation services took more trips to medical appointments compared to those randomly assigned to continue to receive standard transportation benefits provided by Medicaid managed care organizations. Enhanced smart transportation included access to on-demand rides to medical appointments, grocery stores, food banks and pharmacies via mobile application or web portal. There was also the suggestion of increased satisfaction with transportation services in the enhanced smart transportation group compared to usual transportation. Following their collaboration with Smart Columbus and The Ohio State University on this project, the participating Medicaid managed care organizations are modernizing how they deliver non-emergency transportation services to their members including access to a mobile application for trip scheduling and expanding same-day transportation services.
• The Pivot multimodal transportation planning app, which helps travelers plan and pay for trips throughout central Ohio using one or more transportation options like bus, ride-hailing, carpool, bikes, scooters, taxis and personal vehicle or bike, has been downloaded more than 1,000 times and supported 447 trips amidst the pandemic. Pivot users reported easier transfer between different transportation modes and were more satisfied with their transportation options, travel time, distance and flexibility.
• More than 1,000 vehicles participated in the connected vehicle environment, where vehicles could “talk” to each other and to 85 intersections, seven of them with the highest crash rates in central Ohio. The technology improved emergency response times and slowed participant speeds in school zones during the demonstration.
• The Ohio State University calculated that investments from the implementation of the USDOT award generated an estimated gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $173.39 million and generated or induced 2,366 jobs.
• An accessibility analysis found that travelers originating at the Linden Transit Center can now reach at least 20,000 additional jobs and 3,000 additional healthcare services within 30 minutes than they would using the trip planning tools that existed prior to the introduction of the Smart Columbus projects.

“Through the delivery of the Smart City Challenge, Columbus has shown how innovative and impactful transportation solutions can help our residents live their best lives,” said Mandy Bishop, Smart Columbus Program Manager, city of Columbus. “Our leadership in defining the future of cities has also created a playbook for cities for how to collaborate with residents, technology providers and community partners to deploy technologies that can make a lasting community impact.”

In May 2020, Columbus successfully concluded the $10 million Smart City Challenge grant awarded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which helped Columbus emerge as the fastest-growing city in the Midwest for electric vehicle adoption. Expanding on the decarbonization vision of the grant, the city of Columbus recently unveiled its Climate Action Plan with a goal of climate neutrality by 2050, and the Columbus Partnership launched a collaborative energy buying program to help large corporate and industry buyers accelerate their transition to clean energy.

“Societal problems are more complex than ever. Climate change, growing inequity and workforce disruption are indisputable challenges that can be mitigated with inclusive adoption and deployment of new and next technologies,” said Jordan Davis, the newly-named executive director of Smart Columbus. “Smart Columbus will continue to partner with the community to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies to give our residents a more frictionless experience with infrastructure, systems and services, so that we may increase access to opportunity and improve quality of life for everyone.”