PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A downtown mass transit "corridor" where city leaders once planned a streetcar line is at the center of Providence's bid for $50 million in a contest to find the "most forward-thinking city" in the United States.

Seventy-seven cities around the country, including Rhode Island's capital, entered this year's Smart City Challenge, a U.S. Department of Transportation competition to find the best example of how "advanced data and intelligent transportation systems ... can be used to reduce congestion, keep travelers safe, protect the environment, respond to climate change, connect under-served communities and support economic vitality."

Vulcan, a company started by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is chipping in $10 million of the $50-million first prize and described the winner as the "most innovative, ambitious and forward-thinking city in America to show the nation and the world a practical path to replacing carbon-based fuel consumption."

Providence's contest entry marries the city's grandest technology wish list with concrete examples of existing projects, showing how planners might try to rebuild the city if they had the resources.

"The City of Providence is at a rare moment; a moment when political leadership, thought leadership, technology and smart urban infrastructure are aligned," the first line in Providence's application says.

Late last year, the city abandoned stalled plans for a downtown streetcar line in favor of a less expensive "enhanced bus" line along the proposed streetcar route, from Providence Station to Rhode Island Hospital. The city was awarded a $13-million U.S. DOT grant to build the streetcar and is hoping to use it for the new bus line.

A supercharged version of the bus plan with dedicated lanes and "autonomous," electric buses "connecting the 1.4-mile transit emphasis corridor" ties much of the application together.

On either end of the planned route, at the train station and hospital, two new "intermodal transit hubs," being planned by the state and using $40 million approved in a bond referendum, provide smart-technology opportunities, the bid says.

And between those two hubs, the former Route 195 land presents a "unique opportunity in the United States to build out a new state-of-the art downtown urban transportation corridor from scratch."

Another element in the application is Mayor Jorge Elorza's plan to buy the city's streetlights from utility National Grid and replace them with 16,000 Internet-connected LED lights.

"Providence has started down a path of a '100-year digital leap' with the plan to install up to 16,000 LED street lights that are Internet of Things sensor enabled," the bid says.

Also mentioned in the application, Providence's stalled bike-share plan and the long-planned Providence River pedestrian bridge connecting sections of the former Route 195 land.

Not mentioned in the application, the R.I. Department of Transportation's planned reconstruction of Routes 6 and 10, possibly including a new mass transit line and transformation to a surface boulevard with acres of development opportunities. (The application was submitted before the General Assembly approved funding for the 6-10 project.)

Writing letters of support for the city's bid were Brown University's Technology Ventures Office, technology company Cisco Systems, new Rhode Island Chief Innovation Officer Richard Culatta and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab.

The application says MIT, Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design, among others, have agreed to lend technical support if Providence wins.

The winner of the Smart City Challenge is expected to be announced next month.

—panderson@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @PatrickAnderso_