MONTGOMERY – US Ignite and Smart Cities Connect this week named the City of Montgomery, Alabama, a winner in the 2021 Smart 50 Awards. The honor cements Montgomery’s status as a global leader in technology and innovation. It marks the City’s second consecutive year to win the award.

The award comes as a result of the City’s partnership with civic tech company RoadBotics, which helped Montgomery implement a system of artificial intelligence (AI) that more efficiently and more quickly assesses paving needs. To residents, however, it means new roads and smoother rides at a fraction of the cost and time of previous infrastructure projects.

“We are working smarter by embracing technology and innovation to enhance service, increase efficiency and ensure a more equitable approach to improving infrastructure across our community,” Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said. “Through our partnership with RoadBotics, the City has optimized our overall paving operations. It is a program that is consistent with our goal to reimagine solutions to longstanding challenges and transform quality-of-life in neighborhoods across Montgomery.”

The City of Montgomery will join fellow award-wining high-tech hubs, like Hong Kong, Austin, Chattanooga, Philadelphia and Montreal, at an awards ceremony and symposium in National Harbor, MD in October. During the conference, leaders will share case studies about their work to implement “the most influential and groundbreaking global smart cities projects launched in the past year,” according to event organizers.

The City of Montgomery adopted RoadBotics’ AI-based, cutting-edge program to more efficiently assess and address paving priorities. It has since offered a much more comprehensive analysis of Montgomery’s infrastructure needs at a fraction of the time and costs associated with those in previous years. Along with freeing staff resources, the program pinpoints road issues undetectable to the human eye and defects that could snowball into larger issues down the line. This proactive approach should result in bigger taxpayer savings and longer-lasting roads.

Visit https://spring.smartcitiesconnect.org/Smart50Awards for the list of winning cities and projects.

For more information on these and other City of Montgomery smart city initiatives, visit www.montgomeryal.gov.

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