After 77 cities across the country applied for a $50 million prize through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Smart City Challenge, city leaders have begun to reveal what they would use the money on if they won.



Smart City Challenge 77 municipal applicants.

Cities represent 31 states and the District of Columbia.

The DOT will select five finalists at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, on March 12.

One winner will receive $50 million in June.

The department is offering $40 million to the winner, with the private investment firm Vulcan adding in another $10 million and Mobileye promising to outfit the grant recipient's bus fleets with driver alert technology. The department itself isn't planning on revealing information about the applications until it narrows the pool down to five finalists at South by Southwest on March 12, but local media have been reporting the details of individual cities' plans.

The winner will be announced sometime in June, according to the U.S. DOT.

At this stage in the competition, cities are only supposed to have "high-level" ideas for transportation projects. After the DOT selects five finalists in March, it will offer each one $100,000 to refine and develop the ideas into more specific proposals.

Early indications show that many applicant cities are interested in enhancing bus services and light rail lines or in upgrading traffic signals to allow them to adapt to things like traffic jams and emergency vehicles. Here are some of the ways cities are proposing to put the DOT's money to work: