US DOT awards $77 million to University Transportation Centers

U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $77 million in grants to 22 University Transportation Centers to advance research and education programs that address critical transportation challenges facing the nation. The UTCs, which are located throughout the United States, conduct research that directly supports the priorities of the US DOT and the participating universities are a critical part of the national transportation strategy.

“Transportation matters in everyone’s daily life. These research centers will help us solve the transportation challenges we face today and those that we know lay ahead of us,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, which administers the UTC program, used a competitive selection process to select ten University Transportation Centers, two Transit-Focused UTCs and ten 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.