Huntington city officials are in the planning phase of the new “Smart City” project.
City council approved a governing board to oversee the work.
Founded as an industrial city, there is a lot about Huntington city officials are hoping to upgrade.
“We want to lay 183 miles of fiber throughout the entire city, which will completely blanket the city in fiber-optic cable,” said project manager Cory Dennison.
Dennison calls it a high-speed backbone to make Huntington a Smart City.
“Fiber broadband internet is something this city needs,” Dennison said. “One thing we all learned from the COVID pandemic was that we didn’t have enough internet.”
The goal is faster internet and lower internet bills, but Smart City isn’t just about online efficiency.
The federal project includes plans to add sensors throughout the city to gather general data.
“Whether it be fleet management sensors, flood mitigation sensors, crime sensors, you could have thousands, tens of thousands of sensors throughout the city,” Dennison said. “You can take that information and run your city more efficiently.”
While in the planning phase, officials have found their options for data-gathering are almost limitless.
“We’re trying to identify what sorts of data do we as a city want to have regular access to, and how will we use that to make our city better,” Dennison said.
He said Huntington residents could expect to see some subtle changes over the next two years, like sensors on traffic lights or fire trucks.
“The city of Huntington was founded as a leader in the Industrial Revolution in our region, and we want to now be a leader in the digital age,” he said.
Officials are now in the process of requesting federal funding to make headway on the project.
They have an application and proposal due at the end of November.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Lesya Feinstein
Quelle/Source: msn, 18.10.2022
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