USDOT to fund four new University Transportation Centers

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is soliciting competitive grant applications from universities for four new Tier 1 University Transportation Centers (UTC) program.

The USDOT will award $4.9 million in grants under the program. The UTCs will support research needs that the department has identified under two priorities: promoting safety and improving mobility of people and goods, department officials announced in a press release.

USDOT intends to fund one UTC in each of the following areas:

• highly automated transportation systems research;
• communications technology and e-commerce effects on travel demand;
• implications of accessible automated vehicles and mobility services for people with disabilities; or
  
• strategic implications of changing public transportation travel trends.

Only U.S. nonprofit institutions of higher education are eligible to apply or to be members of a proposed UTC consortium. The institutions may include two-year institutions, USDOT officials said.