AID Demonstration Funds Awarded

FHWA’s Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration grants will help seven States advance innovative solutions for mobility and safety for all road users. Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah are receiving more than $5.6 million in combined funding.

The Alabama Department of Transportation (DOT) will deploy advanced geotechnical methods in exploration (A-GaME), an Every Day Counts round five (EDC-5) innovation, to help reduce construction delays and identify subsurface conditions that can mitigate risk in the repair and reopening of a section of U.S. Route 231 that closed after a mudslide in 2020.

The Arizona DOT and Mohave County will use Composite Arch Bridge System (CABS) technology to build a durable bridge crossing with reduced road closure times and construction costs. Its first use in Arizona, CABS provides rapid, simplified construction and arches that can be easily transported and placed without heavy equipment or large crews.

The Michigan DOT will use knowledge gained from previous efforts to bundle bridge projects on local agency routes. Expected outcomes with project bundling, a method supported during EDC-5 for awarding several projects under a single contract, include streamlined coordination and permitting and increased economies of scale.

Both New Hampshire and Rhode Island are incorporating pedestrian safety improvements promoted by the EDC-5 Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) initiative.

The New Hampshire DOT and the city of Nashua will improve pedestrian safety by installing crosswalk visibility enhancements, rectangular rapid-flashing beacons, pedestrian hybrid beacons, and road diets. These innovations are expected to reduce the number and severity of crashes involving pedestrians, help drivers yield to pedestrians more easily, and reduce traffic stress for pedestrians at 20 locations in the city.

The Rhode Island DOT is implementing the findings of its uncontrolled midblock crossing evaluation by installing enhancements such as rectangular rapid-flashing beacons, pedestrian hybrid beacons, leading pedestrian intervals, and pedestrian crossing islands to improve safety on 25 State-owned crossings.

The South Dakota DOT will deploy and evaluate its first use of variable speed limits on two interstate highway corridors throughout the State and help develop criteria for adjusting speed limits in response to weather, road, visibility, and traffic conditions.

The Utah DOT will use three-dimensional (3D) modeling software, e-Construction, drones, and other EDC technologies to improve project delivery.

The AID Demonstration Program has awarded more than $86.9 million for 117 grants since it was launched in 2014 to help agencies accelerate the use of innovative traffic, safety, and construction practices.

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