The Mayor has returned from Washington, DC where met with White House, congressional, and industry leaders in support of Austin’s bid for the Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge. Here’s the latest rundown of coverage on the Smart Cities Challenge.
“Adler Talks Smart Cities Challenge With Cornyn in DC”
By KLBJ News Radio
http://www.newsradioklbj.com/news/austin-local-news/adler-talks-smart-cities-challenge-cornyn-dc
U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) met yesterday with Mayor Steve Adler of Austin in Washington to discuss Austin’s application for the Smart Cities Challenge Grant Program and the Onion Creek Project.
“Mobility and Affordability: Mayor Adler Chases Transportation Dollars”
By Nick Barbaro, Co-Editor & Co-Publisher of The Austin Chronicle
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-04-08/public-notice-mobility-and-affordability/
Mayor Adler has been chasing the transportation dollars. Last week he was in San Diego for a World Economic Forum meeting on urban mobility – where U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx provided an update on the Smart City Challenge, in which Austin is one of seven finalists for a grant of up to $50 million to implement a “transformative” mobility solution – and then headed to Washington, D.C., to further discuss the project.
Austin’s proposal is based on several projects that are already under way: It imagines using “big data” to make traffic lights automatically adjust to weather, traffic flow, and accidents, as well as providing personalized, automatic traffic reports. In the preliminary round, Austin also proposed electrifying the city vehicle and taxi fleets, a pilot project for a driverless shuttle bus at the airport, and one-stop-shopping transportation hubs and mobility passes that would include bus, rail, taxis, and TNCs in one seamless package.