Columbus, Ohio, Awarded 'Smart City' Grant
![](https://planning-org-uploaded-media.s3.amazonaws.com/image/blog-columbus-ohio-smart-city-winner.png)
Columbus, Ohio, has become the U.S. Department of Transportation's final pick to receive the "Smart City Challenge" grant.
According to the DOT website, the city will be awarded $40 million to "define what it means to be a 'Smart City' and become the country's first city to fully integrate innovative technologies — self-driving cars, connected vehicles, and smart sensors — into their transportation network".
Federal officials will head to Columbus on Thursday to make the formal announcement.
In a statement released today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced:
"Columbus' skilled and diverse workforce, state-of-the-art research institutions, and strong-public-private partnerships will help this project succeed. I look forward to working with local leaders and community members to realize the vision of a first-of-its-kind transportation service that increases access to jobs, links neighborhoods, and improves real-time information in a sustainable, safe way."
The central Ohio city bested six other finalists which we recently profiled here on the blog.
Read more about those other finalists: Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh Austin, Portland, and San Francisco.
You can read the original proposal from Columbus or take a look at its "Smart City" video pitch below.
The announcement for Columbus comes on the heels of another recent honor as the city was a recipient of a 2016 APA National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation for the Downtown Columbus Riverfront.
Top image: Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Randall L. Schieber.