Federal Transportation Grant to Support Livability Center

What Happened?
Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute has received a federal grant, yet again, to fuel the development of its Small Urban and Rural Livability Center. The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding WTI with a $2.8 million grant to support research, education and outreach activities.

So What?
Working collaboratively with the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State, WTI will utilize the funding to increase and improve research and outreach initiatives as part of its University Transportation Center program. The federal grant will be administered through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

The WTI University Transportation Center is known for its educational programs and initiatives. The Small Urban and Rural Livability Center will be based on Montana State University and dedicate its studies to transportation issues affecting the livability of small towns in rural regions. Researchers and policymakers will examine new public transit options, safer routes for bicyclists and pedestrians, improving accessibility of regional transit centers, and creating a more interconnected transit network across disparate communities.

Furthermore, WTI will partner with Washington State University and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks to lead the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Transportation in Cold Climates which will act as a second University Transportation Center. WTI will receive $790,000 over two years in federal funding for the second University Transportation Center. This development will focus its research on construction of key transit infrastructure as well as common maintenance concerns including:

• Context-sensitive design
• Recycled construction materials
• Snow and ice control initiatives
• Protection of local ecosystems

Long-Term Strategies
After the Department of Transportation RITA’s University Transportation Centers program sponsored aNational Transportation Workforce Summit in 2012 to identify and discuss future transportation demands and the workforce needed to fill these voids, a strategic approach was set in motion. The federal government brainstormed with Carnegie Mellon University’s Technologies for Safe and Efficient Transportation to create a competitive environment where students are exposed to transportation research and projects through a multi-disciplinary initiative. Playing off the strengths from a variety of researchers, solutions are typically a combination of innovations from computer science, robotics, engineering, public policy, information systems, business and design.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s RITA initiative has awarded $63 million this year to 33 post-secondary institutions for the development of University Transportation Centers. The centers developed and supported through the federal grant program directly respond to transportation needs experienced across the country based on environmental factors and local demographic safety. The University Transportation Centers engage in hands-on research, implement strategies, test theories and prepare students for leadership roles in the workforce. Local, regional and state government agencies support the University Transportation Centers with resources and tools to create, launch and measure each initiative.

Working in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s priorities, the selected UTCs across the country have access to a maximum of 35 competitive grants totaling $72.5 million in 2013 and 2014. The University Transportation Centers can be comprised of two or more nonprofit higher education institutions with one entity in the leadership role.

Driving Results
Gov1 has kept pace with other initiatives that work collaboratively with federal funding to improve local quality of life.