[Obama] Administration Announces New “Smart Cities” Initiative to Help Communities Tackle Local Challenges and Improve City Services
Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx unveiled a $42 million transportation program in Manhattan that is part of President Obama's new $160 million Smart Cities Initiative. Funds will go to NYC, Tampa, and Wyoming to reduce congestion and crashes.
Transportation was but one of many issues targeted to improve cities using the latest technological advances. "The efforts were also showcased at a Sept. 14 "White House Smart Cities Forum" in Washington, D.C.," reports the GCN staff. [Watch on YouTube.].
According to the press release by the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office of the Department of Transportation (DOT), Secretary Anthony Foxx "revealed that New York City, Wyoming, and Tampa, FL will receive up to $42 million to pilot next-generation technology in infrastructure and in vehicles to share and communicate anonymous information with each other and their surroundings in real time, reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, and cutting the unimpaired vehicle crash rate by 80 percent." (via Planetizen)