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Market Spotlight: Working Smarter - Tampa Area Alliance Building Brighter Future
By Thomas Ehlers, Staff Writer
Sometimes, rejection is the best motivator.
The Tampa Bay Smart Cities Alliance (TBSCA) wouldn’t be here without it.
The joint partnership between the City of Tampa, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)’s District 7 Office and the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) was established in 2017, but its impact has grown beyond the city limits through the years. Its inception came after the City of Tampa applied for federal grant funding but wasn’t selected.
Instead of throwing in the towel, this trifecta got busy.
“The effort of putting together that proposal was really a great benefit because we looked at ourselves and said, ‘Hey, we’re collaborating and learning from each other, let's continue this,’’' said CUTR senior research associate Sara Hendricks. “Independent of the grant opportunities, let’s formalize our collaboration and become an alliance.”
The alliance held an initial meeting and invited around 40 individuals from 25 regional stakeholders, including public and private associations, chambers of commerce and community organizations. After initial discussions, alliance members settled on three major goals: the creation of a regional data platform, exploring mobility as a service and reimagining regional infrastructure.
“It’s an agreement that provides that we will work together to research, develop, deploy and evaluate technologies and use analysis-based solutions to address problems facing growing communities,” Hendricks said.
“In our case, it’s the growing Tampa Bay region. It has its share of challenges and growing pains, but also a great deal of economic opportunity that we want to harness and make sure our technologies are keeping pace with.”
Collaboration is the key to the Alliance’s success, and it focuses on projects utilizing scalable technology that is customer-focused, user-friendly and cost-effective. In addition to its research capabilities, CUTR can tap into the pipeline of USF students who wish to work in these fields, giving the students valuable experience and partners the ability to utilize motivated young talent. An interdisciplinary body, CUTR partners with different schools and programs across campus to deliver the expertise for the projects it undertakes.
The Alliance recently completed its data platform, marking a major milestone for the group. The platform stores large and “big” data sets on a wide array of topics, including a work-zone data exchange specific to construction zones. This technology is open to a variety of stakeholders, including FDOT District 7’s Alice Price.
“It’s a one-stop source for information that not only serves as a repository for our internal folks, but also for our external (partners),” Price said. “We’re trying to figure out how to not put limitations on it but continue to use those data sources in order to better predict and analyze safety issues instead of just reacting to them.”
In December 2022, the City of Tampa launched a mobility pilot study for its multi-modal transit mobile application hosted by Moovit. The application helps users plan their travel by combining all local mobility and micro mobility avenues, including electric scooters and bikes as well as public transit, which includes buses, light rail and trains. Today, the app serves residents across the area, enhancing accessibility to all.
“It gives the ability to plan for your travel, pay for your travel and access a ticket where all multimodal services are integrated,” Hendricks said. “It’s a one stop-shop, and it provides all of this information – some of it in real time – in regard to planning a trip.”
PUTTING TOGETHER PROJECTS
While some partnerships have rigid rules, the TBSCA allows members to flex their bandwidth and capabilities based on their needs and interests.
“The beauty of the alliance is that there is not really any formal commitment,” Hendricks said. “It’s just a loose framework to allow us all to work together.”
That sense of collaboration has manifested itself in a number of completed projects, including two major roadway initiatives.
One such initiative studied enhancements to cybersecurity in public transportation, and it used CUTR researchers to complete a literature review and survey in addition to their analysis. Dr. Pei-Sung Lin worked on the project, which focused on existing infrastructure and the future of connected and autonomous vehicles that will use technology to communicate and navigate themselves.
The study looked into possible attacks on infrastructure, the vulnerabilities of technology, and how individuals or groups could use technology to their advantage. It studied several facets of public transportation, including traffic light cabinets, wireless fare technologies, connectivity systems, wi-fi enabled devices and more.
The Alliance was able to offer feedback to device manufacturers that several municipalities use to ensure their products were physically secure and digitally sound.
“A lot of local agencies, they are the front lines of traffic control operations, so a lot of times they may or may not have the resources,” Lin said, noting the possibilities TBSCA creates to the public at-large. “They call on the state or much bigger agencies or manufacturers to ensure things are safe. Awareness of cybersecurity for their traffic control system is a continuing effort and will be a positive for everybody.”
The City of Tampa’s makeup creates a unique position for tractor-trailer traffic, as the area features an international airport, seaport, a number of strategic state and interstate highways and important railways. The alliance’s truck route signage program helped ease traffic concerns that arise from this elevated truck traffic.
The area saw an increased number of trucks missing turns or traveling into spaces they weren’t allowed, which led to traffic jams when these trucks would have to make U-turns or attempt to correct their mistakes. The study pinpointed the hotspots of these moving violations, which led to the development a system of signs that gave directions in an adequate amount of time for trucks to find appropriate lanes, reduce violations and prevent resulting congestion.
“The two violations happen when people go where they are not supposed to go for two reasons,” Lin said. “One, they are trying to get a shortcut, or the second reason is they truly just don’t know. When you have all of this clear signage, there is no reason to violate.”
After implementation, the project saw a 56% decrease in violations at 10 legs of road at 8 intersections.
While many projects have a more transportationcentered focus, the Alliance hopes to expand into healthcare, education, economic development and other realms that smart technologies can support.
Today, the alliance holds quarterly training workshops for stakeholders and members along with regular meetings. It undergoes pilot projects, and its members are interested in a variety of other conversations, including alternative fuels, electric vehicles and resiliency. It’s also paved the way for positive change in partners.
“I think for FDOT, it’s been a transition from being reactive to proactive and really thinking about our roadways and our facilities differently,” Price said.
While the TBSCA is only part of Hendrick’s role at CUTR, it has bolstered her understanding of the power of partnerships.
“Collaboration and engagements and partnerships are very challenging,” Hendricks said. “It takes a lot of work, and it takes more time to do it and do it right. It takes a lot to engage the public. But if you take the time and effort to do it, do it right and do it consistently well, you are so far ahead. That’s a key takeaway.”
