Smart Columbus has released the first in a series of concept documents for a pilot project funded by a portion of the 40 million dollar U.S. Department of Transportation grant the city won two years ago.
Mike Foley explains.
The Connected Vehicle Environment or CVE represents one of nine projects within the grant portfolio being managed by the City of Columbus. The core of the CVE involves a high-speed network where vehicles can communicate with other vehicles, infrastructure and the Smart Columbus Operating System in an effort to improve safety and mobility. More than a hundred road side units would be installed at intersections along with hundreds of on-board units installed in private, emergency, transit, and freight vehicles. Among the safety applications, warning signals that would alert drivers to avert a potential forward collision, to prepare to slow down for an upcoming school zone, or that a light ahead will soon turn red. When approaching an equipped intersection, technology in emergency vehicles could preempt the signal to improve response time to a service call. Transit vehicles could communicate with roadside equipment to acquire signal priority to help with on-time performance. The 12 applications in the document were selected based on their high level of development and testing. Infrastructure would be deployed in seven major areas, including High Street from 5th Avenue to Morse Road, Cleveland Avenue from 2nd Avenue to Morse Road, and Trabue Road from Westbelt Drive to Wilson Road. Smart Columbus has set July 2020 as the tentative operation date for the project.
