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A bicycle traffic signal on the Tilikum Crossing bridge.

(Elliot Njus/staff)

Portland is in the running for $50 million to build smarter streets that can talk to connected and self-driving cars and develop an app to promote alternatives to driving.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced at the South by Southwest Interactive technology conference in Austin, Texas, that proposals from Portland and six other cities had won out in the department's Smart Cities Challenge among a field of 78 applicants. The finalist cities will each get $100,000 to refine their plans to compete for the larger grant.

The Transportation Department has pledged up to $40 million in grant money, while Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. has promised up to $10 million to promote electric car deployment.

Portland had proposed building connected street grids, with sensors and data transmitters to communicate with connected vehicles, along Columbia Boulevard in North and Northeast Portland. It's also looking at a pilot for using autonomous technology on Tilikum Crossing, which could allow buses and light rail vehicles to cross the private car-free bridge at higher speeds.

The city also proposed creating hardware to collect data from connected vehicles through their onboard computers and and transmit it anonymously to an virtual repository. There it would be available to city engineers, but also to third parties.

Portland's proposal also included an app that would promote alternatives to driving based on the data collected and facilitate payment for various forms of transport, including public transit and private transportation companies.

The other finalists include Austin; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh; and San Francisco.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus