The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation is expanding the use of their 2023 Build a Better Mousetrap (BABM) Innovative Project Award thanks to a Federal grant award from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Yakama Nation, a federally recognized Tribe that manages approximately 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) of public roads in Washington State, was recently awarded funding through the USDOT’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grant Program. The competitive program provides $500 million over five years to help State, local, and Tribal governments advance innovative solutions for better rail crossings, safer road intersections, improved transit accessibility, and more, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The Yakama Nation’s innovation, the Mobile Unit Sensing Traffic (MUST) device, monitors traffic, detects dangerous events, and provides real-time warning messages to rural road users. Implementation of the device addresses significant challenges faced by Tribal and rural communities such as a lack of real-time traffic and safety data, particularly on low-volume rural roads. The scarcity in data hinders the Yakama Nation’s effective planning and decisionmaking processes.

Former Assistant Director of the Northwest Tribal Technical Assistance Program, HollyAnna DeCoteau Littlebull, who worked with researchers from the University of Washington Smart Transportation Applications and Research (STAR) Laboratory on the MUST device, says, “Everything was outdated. The data was like five years or older. We knew that the trending issues did not accurately reflect the data that we had.”

The MUST device was customized specifically for use along Tribal and rural roads with limited infrastructure support, including limited Internet connectivity. The device is equipped with camera, environment sensor, computing, and communication capabilities. With the new USDOT’s SMART grant, the Yakama Nation’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) “proposed to expand the current MUST deployment from one intersection to the critical intersections and road segments of the entire corridor of US 97 from Toppenish to Union Gap,” says Wei Sun, Ph.D., cofounder and chief executive officer of a private spinoff company that focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence and edge computing for safer and more efficient transportation. “The team is currently kicking off the SMART Stage 1 project, which is expected to last approximately 18 months,” according to Sun.

In addition to traffic and roadway conditions monitoring and alerting, the Yakama Nation’s DNR engineering team has been working on virtual traffic management centers, low visibility and heavy fog situations, and wildfire detection and alerting using the MUST device.

“This project was truly a team effort between the University of Washington, Washington State Department of Transportation, and the private sector. Even though we were different entities, we were a real team and that’s what it takes to solve problems,” says Littlebull.

The BABM national recognition program highlights locally relevant, innovative solutions, and provides a platform to share innovations to everyday challenges that local and Tribal transportation professionals encounter on local roads. These local road solutions range from the development of new project delivery or design processes to the invention of new tools, equipment, or modifications that increase efficiency, enhance safety, reduce cost, and improve the quality of transportation on local roads.

For more information on the Yakama Nation’s MUST device, visit:
https://www.aiwaysion.com/technology.

For more information on BABM, visit: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/clas/babm/ or contact Trinette Ballard, 850-553-2207, Trinette.Ballard@dot.gov. For details on the Yakama Nation and the other winners from 2023, see the Autumn issue of Public Roads at https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/autumn-2023/innovation.

For announcements on the 2024 BABM winners, see the Innovation Corner in the upcoming Autumn 2024 issue of Public Roads.

Trinette Ballard is a Local Aid Support program manager in the Office of Transportation Innovation and Workforce Solutions and has been with FHWA for 16 years.