Greenville applies for $50M transportation grant

BENJAMIN JEFFERS and CINDY LANDRUM | STAFF

A team representing the city and county of Greenville has applied for a $50 million grant to revolutionize transportation in the city.

Greenville is one of 78 metropolitan areas – and the only one in South Carolina –applying for the U.S. Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge grant.

Dr. Joachim Taiber, chief technology officer for the International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC), coordinated writing Greenville’s grant application, which he said focused on pilot programs for Main Street in downtown Greenville and Woodruff Road, and automated transportation system (ATS) testing at the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC).

On Main Street, the pilot program would feature driverless taxis that would pick up passengers and possess the ability to be aware of obstacles in the road such as bicyclists and pedestrians, Taiber said.

The system on Woodruff Road would include a new parking structure and shuttle service where shoppers could park and then be transported to stores and back.

Taiber said the shuttle could operate on a rail system, or as an automated, driverless system that uses existing infrastructure. The grant writers left the option open, he said.

The final major highlight would be ATS testing at SCTAC for systems such as podcars that could be implemented at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and Clemson University and connect parking lots to the terminal at the airport and buildings at the university, he said.

USDOT wanted applicants to come up with transportation ideas that haven’t been tried before, Taiber said. “What the USDOT asked for was a vision and not for a benchmark.”

All the vehicles used in the systems would be emission free, so Greenville would need an upgrade in its charging systems, Taiber said. Also, in order to implement all the ideas, Greenville would need to use the grant money to upgrade vehicle communications networks, he said.

“The car industry is moving to more connected and innovative driving,” he said.

USDOT will announce the five finalists for the grant in March at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas. Taiber said the finalists will be given $100,000 to develop a final proposal.

The $50 million winner will be announced in June.

TIGER grant

The Smart City Challenge grant is different from the $12-$14 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant Greenville lost out on last year.

That federal grant would have gone towards transforming the Greenlink bus system from a local to a regional system with 10 electric buses, express routes and extended service hours.

Greenville once again has the opportunity to apply for another TIGER grant, and the application team is hopeful this round will be different.

Greenlink director Mark Rickards said although Greenville’s grant application wasn’t funded, the system received good signals from federal officials who told them to do the application in incremental phases. “It would transform the system,” he said.

Grant Sparks, manager of transit planning for the City of Greenville, said in a debriefing after the last round of TIGER grants that USDOT officials said Greenville’s application was good and “they just ran out of money.”

He said federal officials suggested the city include phases in its TIGER VIII application. Local officials are adding private partners as well.

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