Wednesday, the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce along with Mayor Todd Strange, County Commission Chairman Elton Dean and Alabama Power Southern Division Vice President Leslie Sanders announced the creation of a Smart City Living Lab in downtown Montgomery.

In a press release, Alabama Power’s Sanders said, “We are proud to be a partner in this effort and leverage resources and technology that can help improve Montgomery for all residents. The benefit of reliable connectivity can be used to support a multitude of applications and ultimately deliver more for those who live in and visit Montgomery.”

The new project will feature fiber optic infrastructure, an expansion of the Open Data Portal, free public Wi-Fi in downtown areas, the conversion of street lights to LED, a public safety initiative and deployment of smart parking solutions for Alabama’s riverfront capital city, which is built on a dynamic history rooted in revolution as the center of both the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement.

“Beginning with a ‘smart’ corridor from the capital to the riverfront, we are building a smart city from the ground up – using fiber and connectivity to seamlessly integrate into the existing environment, while providing a platform for the deployment of any number of smart city solutions,” Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce chairman Willie Durham explained.

Montgomery leaders announced that the smart corridor will be formalized through the creation of the Montgomery Smart Community Alliance, a public-private partnership focused on advancing smart city initiatives in the City of Montgomery.

As part of its work, the alliance is currently coordinating a smart community strategic plan to identify community priorities and solutions that address them, with several initiatives already underway.

Ongoing initiatives include:

• The City of Montgomery launched its Open Data Portal in January 2017 and has already deployed several internal city initiatives to streamline processes and more efficiently and transparently track resources.
• The Montgomery Internet Exchange (MGMix) – launched through a collaboration among Montgomery County, The City of Montgomery, research universities, Maxwell Gunter Air Force Base and the new Cyber College of the Air Force – is one of only four internet exchanges in the Southeast.
• The Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce launched Phase I of the free public Wi-Fi network called “MGMWiFi” earlier this month, with plans to expand in the next few months.
• Alabama Power is working to enhance energy infrastructure around the corridor and is also beginning the process of converting more than 22,000 street lights to LEDs to help improve public safety, increase uniformity, and create over $650,000 in savings over the next five years. Additional public safety and smart parking initiatives will follow.

Montgomery’s continued mission is to foster a business-friendly environment while understanding that a healthy mix of large and small businesses constitutes the lifeblood of the city and the River Region. The local chamber believes that a long history of trusted public-private partnership between the city, county, state and local business leadership creates an inviting business ecosystem.

“This is all about partnerships and leveraging resources to provide a sustainable, prosperous, equitable and inclusive future for all Montgomery residents. We are seeking to build a fabric of connectivity that can support a multitude of applications and services by utilizing the same communications platforms, thus creating efficiencies, saving costs, and ultimately delivering more for those living in and visiting Montgomery,” Strange advised.

Dean added, “Partnerships and shared goals have always been at the heart of Montgomery’s success, and today we again stand together and take a bold step towards a more prosperous future for our citizens.”

RELATED: Big changes coming to Montgomery in 2019

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn