The University of New Orleans is a member of a consortium of universities selected to receive a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. UNO is a member of the Southwest Region University Transportation Center, which is led by Texas A&M University and also includes LSU, Texas Southern and the University of Texas at Austin. The consortium is one of 22 University Transportation Centers that will receive federal support to address critical transportation challenges facing the nation.
The Southwest Region University Transportation Center will receive $3.5 million, with UNO receiving $250,000. The Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration used a competitive selection process to select the grant recipients.
"The UNO Transportation Institute is excited to partner with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M and our partners at LSU and other universities to be part of the winning team for this federal grant,” said John Renne, early research professor of planning and urban studies and director of the UNO Transportation Institute. “TTI is known nationally as the preeminent transportation research institution and UNO's role as a partner on this team creates a tremendous opportunity for the future of UNO's role in transportation research, not just in Louisiana, but nationally."
University Transportation Centers work with regional, state and local transportation agencies to help find solutions to challenges that directly impact their communities and affect the efficiency of the nation’s transportation system. The UTC projects are peer-reviewed and the results of their work are shared with the national transportation community to encourage greater progress through collaboration. The selected universities will research a wide range of transportation-related issues including shared rail corridors, innovations in multimodal freight and infrastructure, bridge inspection methods and reducing roadway fatalities and injuries.
“Transportation matters in everyone’s daily life. These research centers will help us solve the transportation challenges we face today and those that we know lay ahead of us,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.