Ohio capital to get $40M as “Smart City” competition winner

Hancock spokeswoman Jenna Espinoza said the city could not comment on Columbus’ apparent selection until the official announcement comes out because of an agreement city officials signed as part of the program.

As part of their commitment to the project, Columbus’s local business community early on agreed to match those numbers by almost 2 to 1 to add an additional $90 million to the total.

Portland’s hopes of winning $40 million to help build a high-tech street grid were dashed Tuesday after the U.S. Department of Transportation chose Columbus, Ohio, as the victor of its “Smart City Challenge” grant.

The office of Ohio’s Democratic U.S. Sen. “Most importantly, this grant will help meet the transportation needs of Ohioans who live in the low-income neighborhoods in and around Columbus to ensure they can get to their job or receive a good education”.

The city’s transport officials will now be given up to $40 million by the U.S DOT to begin working on proposed upgrades to the public transportation system in Columbus, with a further $10 million coming from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s investment vehicle Vulcan, Columbus Business First reported.

Pittsburgh will have to wait a little longer to become a “smart” city. All told, $140 million will support the initiative.

Plans by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to announce the victor later this week were overshadowed by the enthusiasm of hometown senator Brown, whose office confirmed the win to the Columbus Dispatch and issued a news release Tuesday headlined: “Brown Announces Columbus is victor of $50 Million Smart Cities Challenge”. The release said the federal government will “focus resources” on the runner-up cities but did not specifically promise funding.

Denver’s Smart City proposal centered on ramping up an integrated data system that would draw real-time information from many sources, providing a detailed picture of travel through the city. “And that’s why I worked so hard to support Columbus’s efforts”, Brown said in a statement.