Seven U.S. Mayors Pitched the DOT Like a Bunch of Tech Entrepreneurs

The Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Shaw isn’t generally where you’d expect to find the Department of Transportation holding a workday event. It’s hip, as the District goes. Some of the better bars and talked-about eateries line Ninth Street’s commercial strip. Just behind them, sleek cafes and indie art spaces dot a semi-hidden network of brick alleyways.

But on Thursday afternoon, federal workers in dark suits milled around an industrial-chic gallery, where the U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx was holding the final pitch event for his Smart Cities Challenge. Seven mayors of mid-sized American cities stood up and made their cases, in 10-minute lightning-rounds, for why their particular plans to improve mobility, safety, and equity with the likes of connected vehicles, street sensors, and real-time transit data most deserve $40 million in DOT funding, plus another $10 million from Vulcan Inc. The winning city will also receive many millions more in add-on technology provided by various underwriters, including transit kiosks from Google’s Sidewalk Labs, vehicle-collision sensors from Mobileye, and modeling software from Autodesk.