The Federal Highway Administration awarded NJDOT its first ever Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) grant to support a weather savvy roads pilot program. (njdottechtransfer.net photo)

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) announced its first ever Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) grant award from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to better manage the state's road system during weather events.

This $322,461 grant will support a weather savvy roads pilot program in which up to 20 NJDOT vehicles will be outfitted with dashboard cameras and weather sensors that will feed data directly to the department, allowing for improved situation awareness of road conditions and faster and more accurate resource allocation during weather events year-round. This is the first AID grant applied for through New Jersey's State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC).

“The New Jersey Department of Transportation is always looking for advancements in technology to improve safety,” NJDOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said. “This Federal grant allows us to test new technology so we can better manage our roadways ahead of storms, and enhance safety for the motoring public.”

This award complements an initiative under way by the state that will build off NJDOT's intelligent transportation work, in an effort to devise a statewide “smart” framework. Earlier this summer, New Jersey was selected as one of five states to participate in a national smart communities learning lab, being held later this year in Chicago.

FHWA works with partners at the state level through the Every Day Counts program, which is designed to identify market-ready areas of technological innovation that can be deployed to address transportation challenges. The Road Weather Management — Weather-Savvy Roads program funds vehicle-based observation technologies to proactively manage the road system during and ahead of heavy storms. The vehicle-based cameras will allow for enhanced operational collaboration, improved resource allocation, and enhanced situational awareness for highway operations crews working on the roadway

The award was one of 10 grants FHWA recently announced. The program will be implemented and administered by NJDOT's Transportation Operations Systems and Support Unit.

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