U.S. DOT releases $77M in research, education grants

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) released $77 million in grants to 22 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) to advance research and education programs that address critical transportation challenges. 

The UTCs, which are located throughout the U.S., conduct research that directly supports the priorities of the U.S. DOT and the participating universities are a critical part of the national transportation strategy.

The U.S. DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, which administers the UTC program, used a competitive selection process to select 10 UTCs, two Transit-Focused UTCs and 10 Regional UTCs. The centers will advance U.S. transportation technology and expertise in research, education, and technology transfer. Each one of the selected UTCs will receive a $3.5 million grant which they must match with funds from non-federal sources. The 22 UTCs selected are all consortia, involving a total of 121 different universities.

UTCs work with regional, state and local transportation agencies to help find solutions to challenges that directly impact their communities and affect the efficiency of the nation’s transportation system. UTC projects are peer-reviewed and the results of their work are shared with the national transportation community to encourage greater progress through collaboration. The selected universities will research a wide range of transportation-related issues including shared rail corridors, innovations in multimodal freight and infrastructure, bridge inspection methods, and reducing roadway fatalities and injuries.

A list of grant recipients is available here.