Tampa's Selmon Expressway gets $4M boost to smooth traffic flow

The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority was recently awarded a $4 million grant to be used for implementing new technology that will stem the build up of traffic on the Selmon Expressway. THEA will be partnering with the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research on the project, according to a statement. 

The Smart Eco-Driving Connectivity for Urban Roadway Efficiency platform will work with vehicles that are connected, meaning equipped with technology that allows for communication with roadside infrastructure and other vehicles in real time, to optimize vehicle speed to reduce sudden acceleration and braking with the goal of reducing travel time by up to 25%. 

“This project is a great example of how transformative connected vehicle technology can be for a transportation network, maximizing efficiency and saving lives,” says Greg Slater, CEO of THEA in the statement. “The more we know about how our expressway is being used, the better equipped we are to make decisions that benefit our community — and this grant will help us deliver those benefits responsibly and effectively.”

The platform will track energy savings, emissions improvements, changes in travel time, travel time reliability, queue length and delay, which will be reported to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The funds arrive following the conclusion of a $27 million test of connected vehicle technology pilot that ran from 2015-2022. The U.S. Department of Transportation worked with several car manufacturers to equip vehicles with the connected tech that warned other cars of hazards like potential slow downs and pedestrian traffic. The pilot program prevented 21 potential pedestrian crashes, delivered 19 red light violation warnings, avoided 17 potential vehicle collisions, alerted 14 wrong-way drivers, and issued over 20,000 safety advisories, according to a statement.