The University of California Transportation Center (UCTC) on the UC Berkeley campus is overseeing a new research consortium of five other UC and four Cal State University campuses that just received a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and a matching amount from California’s Department of Transportation.

The UCTC is one of 22 University Transportation Centers receiving funds to advance research, education programs and technology transfer that help address the country’s critical transportation needs. The announcement was made Tuesday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

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The principal investigator for the Berkeley-led consortium is Robert Cervero, professor of city and regional planning and director of the UCTC, a research unit within the Institute of Transportation Studies.

Other institutions participating in the consortium include UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara, as well as Cal State University’s Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino and San Luis Obispo campuses.

According to the research proposal submitted by the consortium as part of the grant process, it will focus on the connections between transportation and environmental sustainability and the transport of goods and people, the impacts on economic competitiveness of efficient transportation systems and operations, and livable communities with high-quality urban and suburban design — particularly in the U.S. Transportation Department’s Region 9, which covers California and other southwestern states.

“Today, California has more plug-in hybrids, CNG (clean natural gas) buses, miles of High-Occupancy Vehicle, toll and (traffic) management lanes, and weekly vanpoolers than any state,” said the proposal. “What we do in California is of huge importance not just to Californians but also the nation and the entire world.”

The University of California is a known intellectual leader in research into traffic operations, intelligent transportation systems and transportation/land use integration.

More information about the grant for UC Berkeley and other transportation centers is online.