Details
| Opportunity Name | Highway Infrastructure Innovation Funding Program |
| Agency | Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) |
| Value | Subject to budget approval |
| Indirect Costs | Eligible at 25% |
| Duration | 1 year |
Deadlines
| Application due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for full review | 01-13-2025 |
| Application and fully signed ORS checklist due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for mandatory review | 01-20-2025 |
| Final application and fully signed ORS checklist due at ORS for mandatory review | 01-23-2025, by 9:00AM |
| Application due at agency | 01-27-2025, by 5:00PM |
Objective
To encourage Ontario’s academic community to research projects that contribute to generating solutions to current technical challenges encountered by MTO in the construction and maintenance of the provincial highway infrastructure network.
A diverse range of specific research topics have been developed by MTO that outline: 1) the background of the research requirement, 2) the challenge or problem to be addressed, and 3) the anticipated outcome and/or research deliverables.
Applicants may choose from one of the following MTO provided specific research topics or submit their own research topic (i.e., an open research topic):
- Investigating the Role of Pavement Friction in Enhancing Road Safety: A Comprehensive Analysis and Network-Level Validation Enhancing Aggregate Screening Tests for Alkali-aggregate Reactivity (ASR) to Identify Reactive Aggregates
- A Global Review of Alkali-Aggregate Reactivity (AAR) Test Methods and Mitigation Techniques Compared to Current Practices in Ontario
- Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Foundation Engineering
- Corrosion Rates of Steel Piles in Ontario
- Design of compression structural components within soil
- Elastomeric Bearing Contact Repair Material and Evaluation
- Using non-destructive testing methods to assess the concrete condition of bridge soffits (with focus on voided slab post-tensioned bridges)
- Evaluation of Traffic Barriers on Bridges for meeting Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level
- Assessing Pathways to Shared Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging
- Investigating Cross-Border and Cross-Provincial Compatibility of Electrification Technologies for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (MHDV)
- Enhancing the usage of BIM and Digital Twins technologies for MTO
Please see the attached HIIFP Program Guide for detailed information on each specific research topic.
Eligibility
All of Ontario’s 23 public universities and 24 colleges are eligible for funding under the HIIFP. The Principal Researcher must be a member of the faculty (full or part-time) at the sponsoring institution.
Attachments
How to Apply
York University researchers are reminded that all applications for external research funding, including Letters of Intent, must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Research Services before they are submitted to the granting agency. For internal approval, the application must be accompanied by a completed ORS Checklist, which requires the Dean’s signature. Please send the complete application, with the finalized budget and a completed ORS checklist to sciapps@yorku.ca, five days prior to agency deadline.
ORS is accepting electronic applications – the process is outlined here.