The city of Kansas City, Mo., is moving forward with its next expansion of smart city technologies, in part, through the issuance of an RFP as the first step to partner with the private sector in the form of hiring a program manager, or private sector partner.
The 54 smart city blocks currently in the city could grow to several hundred in five to 10 years through the potential public-private partnership, bringing connected technologies and linking parking meters, transit stops, intersections and more.
The program manager will be charged with designing and building a “full integrated suite of sensors, networks and data and analytics platforms,” according to the RFP. The program manager will work collaboratively with the city on smart city projects.
Kansas City aims to build off of its current smart city network in downtown, roughly along the new Kansas City Streetcar corridor. The next phase would deploy connected technologies along a new bus rapid transit route planned for Prospect Avenue—an area serving about 80,000 residents. Some 1,000 Wi-Fi access points, 600 traffic sensors and 60 information kiosks are proposed to serve the roughly nine-mile route.
This phase of the project is expected to have a 30-month construction period, with five sub-phases which expand the network by 18 to 25 blocks every six months, according to the RFP.
Phase II, which would follow the extension of the Kansas City Streetcar south to the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, would include some 800 Wi-Fi access points, 300 traffic sensors and 30 information kiosks.
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Source: Government Technology
