Smart Road Facts

Background

Three-purpose roadway: link from Blacksburg to I-81; real-life laboratory for public and private research; economic stimulus for New River and Roanoke valleys

Joint project of Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute and Federal Highway Administration
Test facility for innovations to include VDOT’s Smart Travel program of intelligent transportation systems (ITS)
Nation’s only roadway test bed that also will handle regular traffic
Controlled lighting and ability to generate various forms of precipitation

Potential Benefits

Reduce fog and visibility problems on mountain roads
Improve pavement marking visibility at night and in wet weather
Improve highway lighting
Avoid car pileups due to icy bridges
Improve truck and driver safety
Evaluate advanced snow plows and emergency vehicles
Reduce pavement and bridge maintenance costs
Evaluate and improve advanced vehicle safety systems

Construction

Phase 1 - completed

1.7-mile, two-lane test bed on four-lane right-of-way now open for research
Western end has large turnaround for normal-speed turns by test vehicles. Will link with Route 460 Business and Bypass and new Blacksburg interchange for 460 Bypass (under construction) for regular traffic when phase 3 completed
Prime contractor: Vecellio & Grogan Inc. of Beckley, W. Va.
Groundbreaking, July 8, 1997
Construction completed in March 2000

Phase 2 – completed

2,000-foot bridge and 200 yards of roadway will complete two-mile test track, with eastern end turnaround to allow non-stop test driving
Prime contractor: PCL Civil Constructors Inc. of Canada
Bridge designer: Figg Engineering Inc. of Florida
Bridge construction completed in May 2001

Phase 3

Build 3.7 miles to I-81 interchange at milepost 121, and eastbound lanes to bypass test track
Construction will begin when funding becomes available.

Future

Widen to four lanes entire 5.7 miles; right-of-way has been acquired

All Weather Testing - .5 Mile

75 weather towers that rotate 360 degrees and pivot to handle changing wind conditions
At peak height of 40 feet, towers can make up to two inches of rain per hour in droplets of various sizes, or up to four inches of snow, or a layer of ice on road in cold weather
Operating parameters (air pressure and flow, water pressure and flow) can be duplicated consistently
When snow or rain is being made in the future, normal traffic will bypass test bed on two adjacent lanes that eventually will become part of a four-lane highway
500,000-gallon water tank allows operation at peak capacity; at peak capacity, system uses 180,000 gallons per hour

Experimental Lighting - .8 Mile

Three kinds of overhead lights on height-adjustable poles configured to simulate 40-, 60-, 80- and 120-meter spacings
Dimming system helps provide added variability
Off-set system of lights, seven feet from road shoulder and 60 feet apart
Overlapping lighting and all-weather sections will aid development of higher visibility highway markings and signs
Research will compare ultraviolet (UV) headlights and UV-sensitive signs and markings with conventional headlights and markings

Experimental Pavement & Electronic Network

12 "Superpave" asphalt sections and two concrete designs on two-mile test track
Fiber-optic cable linking more than 400 electronic sensors to monitor concrete stress, asphalt strain, soil pressure, moisture penetration, frost depth, vehicle speed/weight, and traffic counts
Embedded in one overpass, wire mesh cathodic prevention system to avoid salt and chemical corrosion in steel rebar
3M magnetic tape to measure vehicle lane deviations and help assess driver performance Future mag tape research may involve guidance alarms for snowplows and other vehicles
Outside road shoulders, buried network of power and data conduits accessible via underground junction boxes that protect equipment from weather and traffic
Accessible, lateral conduits, connecting junction sites on both sides of road, can handle additional power and data needs as test road is extended
In the future, overhead variable message signs and sensors
In the future, "toolbox" on road will include Global Position System to help measure driver performance, and back up automated control systems
In the future, local area wireless network for short-range communications, and future ITS applications, such as automated highway systems, position location, data collection from sensors, and dynamic in-vehicle information systems

Control Center

30,000-square-foot building at road’s western end provides monitoring and control of pavement sensors, power grids, surveillance cameras, weather generation, lighting and overhead message signs, and communication with test vehicles
Office space for Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute, VDOT’s Transportation Research Council, and companies that contract to use Smart Road
Garage and shop for experimental vehicles
Footprint for three additional buildings

Bridge Over Wilson Creek and Route 723

Virginia’s tallest bridge – road surface 170 feet high (12 feet higher than I-295 Varina-Enon Bridge near Richmond)
Cantilever construction with cast-in-place segments and concrete-embedded, post-tensioned steel cable – as in Richmond’s Lee Bridge
Average span almost 397 feet long, including three 472-foot spans (Lee Bridge average span is 285 feet; spans on most bridges average 150 feet)
Concrete box structure beneath driving surface will carry power and communication lines entire length of bridge, with access points through surface to accommodate test equipment
Concrete in four bridge piers double the strength that most bridge decks require
Reinforcing steel in piers twice as thick as rebar in standard bridges
Proceeding outward from each pier, concrete is poured in 15-foot segments, alternating from side to side for balance, until bridge arms meet midway between the piers
Steel "tendons" in bridge deck are tensioned after concrete is poured, imparting some of the properties of a suspension bridge. They are primarily what holds the bridge up, especially during construction
Tan-colored beams taper in height from 34 feet at piers to 14 feet at mid-span
Faces of four-sided piers inlaid with decorative, "Hokie"-type stone

Return to the Smart Road project summary page.

Page last modified: Jan. 16, 2008

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