In September of 2015, USDOT selected New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) as the recipients of a combined $42 million in federal funding to pilot next-generation infrastructure and vehicle technology under the Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment Program.

Having the proper backhaul communications infrastructure in place was a critical element for the ultimate function of THEA’s connected vehicle network, for security applications as well as data transfer and storage. The Tampa CV Pilot project involves up to 1,000 vehicles equipped with Onboard Units (OBUs) and roadside units (RSU) in 47 locations that are connected via the cellular network along THEA’s Reversible Express Lane (REL) and in the Central Business District (CBD) to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Though many of the CV applications rely on Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), cellular communications are utilized as an interim carrier for "back-haul" to the TMC for areas without fiber.

Early on in the project, the THEA team analyzed the amount of data they believed would be transmitted and selected a wireless plan with 5 gigabytes per month at a cost of $35 a month for each RSU. However, In October 2018, data needs increased as the number of deployed OBUs became more saturated, so the plan was increased to 20 gigabytes at a cost of $100 a month for each RSU. This increased the total cost for the RSUs to $4,500 a month in cellular costs.

THEA is working with the City of Tampa to determine when and where fiber could be installed to help mitigate the wireless communications cost.