​Indiana PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today announced that a team of students from the Lenape Technical School in Armstrong County has been selected as the PennDOT District 10 winner for its sixth Innovations Challenge.

Mentored by Jason Zimmerman, team members include Elijah Mumau and Robert John.

The PennDOT Innovations Challenge invites high school students from around the Commonwealth to develop creative solutions to real-world transportation challenges. The goal of the Innovations Challenge is to help students explore actual challenges PennDOT and the transportation industry is facing as well as consider the possibility of working in the industry following graduation.

Since being announced last October, students across the state have been diligently developing creative and strategic solutions to a real-world transportation challenge. This year, teams were tasked with selecting one of Pennsylvania's interstate corridors where truck parking is a known issue and develop an innovative approach to increase commercial truck parking availability in that area and offset costs incurred for construction.

Pennsylvania is a critical freight corridor for commercial drivers bound for destinations across the continent," said Mike Carroll, Acting Secretary of Transportation. "It's inspiring to see the next generation of problem-solvers approaching the issues of today with the creativity and ingenuity of tomorrow."

The winning regional team's innovation was an Eco-Stop.  An eco-friendly and innovative approach towards the truck parking issue on our state highways.

Regional Innovations Challenge winners will present their solutions to the PennDOT Acting Secretary and a panel of judges in Harrisburg next month, where a statewide winner for 2023 will be determined. For this year's challenge, the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors (APC) and the American Council of Engineering Companies of PA (ACEC/PA) are providing a combined total award of $4,000 to the statewide winning team.

For complete Innovations Challenge details, visit www.penndot.gov/innovation and click on Innovations Challenge.

Subscribe to statewide PennDOT news and traffic alerts or choose a region to subscribe to. Information about the state's infrastructure and results the department is delivering for Pennsylvanians can be found at www.penndot.pa.gov/results. Find PennDOT's planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.  

Subscribe to PennDOT news in in Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and Jefferson counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District10. 

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