Georgia seeks federal funds to create national transport institute

The state of Georgia plans to pursue federal funding to establish a national transportation institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said Tuesday.

Speaking at the third annual Georgia Logistics Summit in Atlanta, Deal said five other Georgia schools would partner with Georgia Tech in the effort. The Atlanta-based Robert W. Woodruff Foundation would provide about $300,000 in seed money to enable the state to prepare a federal funding grant proposal. The Woodruff family is considered the founder of the modern-day Coca-Cola Co.

"We plan to partner with other Southeastern universities, giving this plan a regional context as well," Deal told the gathering of about 1,200. "I plan to reach out to the governors of the other Southeastern states to propose a comprehensive logistics study that will help all of us coordinate our planning and our investments as we move forward."

The institute would help to coordinate real-world transportation planning within the Southeastern states, and it would become an academic center for logistics industry studies, Deal said. The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Southern University, Spelman College, and Southern Polytechnic State University would become partners, he said.

Georgia Tech is considered one of the leading universities in the transportation research and engineering field.