Applying ARPA-I: A Proven Model for Transportation Infrastructure - Federation of American Scientists

Applying ARPA-I: A Proven Model for Transportation Infrastructure - Federation of American Scientists A small but crucial part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was the birth of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Infrastructure (ARPA-I). Building on other proven models – DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and ARPA-E (Advanced Research Program-Energy) – ARPA-I’s objective is to bring the nation’s most innovative technology solutions to bear on our most significant transportation infrastructure challenges. Those challenges are numerous. More people are dying on U.S. roads (42,915 in 2021, up 10.5% from 2020 according to NHTSA); the transportation sector contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector in the U.S.; according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 42% of the nation’s bridges are more than 50 years old, and 7.5% are “structurally deficient.” The Federation of American Scientists, engaged by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology to scope research and technology topics suitable for an advanced research portfolio at USDOT, has authored a report that sets the table for a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring that spirit of untethered innovation to the transportation sector – laying out the obstacles unique to this sector, and how the ARPA model has worked in tackling complex problems in the past.