Chattanooga expands ‘Smart Corridor’ project with US$1.37 million grant

Chattanooga, TN will open its MLK Smart Corridor transit testbed to researchers from around the world after being awarded US$1.37 million from the National Science Foundation.

The testbed – which uses wireless infrastructure and a network of sensors to monitor and control traffic in real-time – will give researchers access to an online portal that is continuously updated with real-time data.

The project, dubbed Smart Corridor+, is being led by researchers at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP).

Speaking to Cities Today, Kevin Comstock, Director of Smart City for Chattanooga, said: “We’re also expanding the existing testbed – right now it’s about ten intersections, and it’s about a mile and a quarter long – this is going to add about another quarter mile to it, and about four more intersections.”

He added: “Some of the intersections will interface with the State Department of Transportation so we’ll be able to study more information with regard to how traffic moves at the interstate level [connecting with] city surface streets.”

The online portal will also be available to high school students in the Chattanooga area, with a view to boosting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Gigabit network

The corridor includes both an urban road segment and a freeway segment, and will be expanded through the city’s 10-gigabit fibre-optic network.

In 2010, Chattanooga became the first US city to roll out a municipal gigabit network, something Comstock said has been key to the project’s success.

“It has been crucial – we rely on the fibre backbone network to create most of the connections for our systems out there in the real world environment.

“I think that’s made us one of the key focal points for a lot of other research initiatives. We’ve got universities that work with us and the country’s national laboratory system working on various projects and it’s due to the fact that we’ve got this reliable and robust fibre.”

The grant will allow CUIP to expand its coverage to a connected four-kilometre portion of US Route 27, including the on and off ramps.

“We have been working toward this for some time now, and it wouldn’t have happened without our close collaboration with the city of Chattanooga, the Electric Power Board and The Enterprise Center,” said Mina Sartipi, Director, CUIP.

“Securing funding for this initiative is exciting. We want Chattanooga to advance as a hub for smart and connected community research and development.”

Image: CUIP