Florida LTAP Center Announces Winners of the 2025 Build a Better Mousetrap Award

For Immediate Release: July 1, 2025

City of Sarasota
The City of Sarasota earned recognition for its project, “City of Sarasota – Smart City Initiative,” in the SMART Transformation category for its use of cutting-edge technology to enhance municipal services. Their initiative leverages smart data systems to enhance public safety, improve mobility, facilitate real-time communication, promote resilience, and ensure fair access to city services.

Hillsborough County – Community and Infrastructure Planning Department
Hillsborough County earned recognition for its project, “Hillsborough County’s Innovative Approach to Internal Mobility,” a comprehensive strategy designed to improve internal connectivity across unincorporated areas. The project addresses growing demands for safe, multimodal transportation while supporting regional mobility goals and reducing traffic congestion.

The Build a Better Mousetrap (BABM) competition, sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), celebrates creative, practical solutions developed by local and tribal transportation agencies. Florida’s winning entries will advance to the national BABM competition, with winners announced at the LTAP/TTAP National Conference. Florida continues to lead the way—most notably in 2021 when Seminole County won both the national SMART Transformation Award and the overall BABM award.

“These projects are great examples of how Florida communities are solving transportation challenges in smart, practical ways,” said Dr. Pei-Sung Lin, Director of the Florida LTAP Center. “We’re proud to support and share innovations that can benefit other agencies across the state and beyond.”

The Florida LTAP Center offers training, technical assistance, and resources to local agencies, helping to improve transportation systems statewide. We also highlight innovative achievements like these and encourage local leaders and innovators to participate in the 2026 Build a Better Mousetrap competition, which opens next year. This annual competition is a valuable opportunity for local agencies to showcase their innovative work and help shape the future of transportation in Florida and beyond.

• BABM competition details: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/clas/babm

LTAP Contact:

Pei-Sung Lin, Ph.D., P.E., PTOE, FITE
Director, Florida Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Center
Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) / University of South Florida
FloridaLTAP@usf.edu

Local Agency Contacts:

Nikesh Patel, PE, CPM, PTOE, CGC, AICP
City Engineer
City of Sarasota
Nikesh.Patel@SarasotaFL.gov

Lama Alfaseeh, PhD
Principal Planner
Hillsborough County – Community and Infrastructure Planning Department
alfaseehl@HCFL.gov