Denver didn’t win the big $40 million prize in a smart-city competition. But on Tuesday, the city was picked to join a 15-city nationwide collaboration to explore how technology from autonomous cars to data management can improve urban mobility. The cities of Centennial and Lone Tree also made the cut.
Sidewalk Labs, which is part of Google parent Alphabet, had already been working with Denver officials because of the U.S. Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge. Denver was named a finalist in March and received $100,000 to fine-tune its traffic proposals.
This summer, Columbus, Ohio, won the U.S. DOT funds, which will be used on projects to restructure its transportation system using the potential of data and technology.
But because Sidewalk had already seen what the finalists had proposed, it wanted to keep the momentum going. Teaming with the Transportation for America, an alliance of business and civic leaders, the new Smart Cities Collaborative also roped into other cities to figure out the future.
“Hopefully, by getting the cities together based around a few key topic areas that we know they’re heavily interested in, they can start to work with one another to see where their challenges are similar, and where they can focus on similar solutions,” said Stephen Lee Davis, a spokesman for Transportation for America, adding that the group was “impressed by how deeply engaged the city (of Denver) was overall.”
Denver officials had planned to continue with their transportation proposal but on “a different scale and pace without the $40 million,” said Crissy Fanganello, Director of Transportation & Mobility for Denver.
By participating in the U.S. DOT contest, Fanganello said the city saw great benefit in hearing what other cities were doing. Collaborating with other communities had also been part of Denver’s proposal.
“Having the conversations with colleagues from other cities was really truly beneficial. They had the same challenges and landscape. There’s an opportunity for us to learn together and work together so we’re not duplicating it,” Fanganello said. “If 78 cities do 78 different things and set 78 different standards, we haven’t set a standard at all.”
Nearly 60 cities applied to join the collaborative. Besides Lone Tree and Centennial, the other 13 cities include Austin, Texas, Boston, Chattanooga, Tenn., Los Angeles, Miami, Madison, Wisc., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Tenn., Portland, Ore., Sacramento, Calif., San Jose, Calif., Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Centennial has been rethinking traffic options for its residents and workers. In August, the city teamed up with ride-sharing service Lyft to offer free rides to and from the Dry Creek light-rail system. Users can get order a ride by going through the Go Centennial mobile app.
“The City is looking forward to sharing and learning information on how to continue to improve transportation mobility in Centennial,” Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon said in a statement. “Joining this group on the heels of launching the Go Centennial pilot program continues the momentum we already have in place.”
Added Jacqueline A. Millet, Lone Tree’s mayor, “The Smart Cities Collaborative is a unique opportunity to continue these efforts and team up with the nation’s brightest minds in transportation and mobility.”
Cities are expected to share information with one another and transportation experts, and then create pilot programs that also share results on best practices.
