The Virginia Smart Road, also known as simply the Smart Road or Smart Highway, is a short, limited access road in
Montgomery County, Virginia
Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt Count ...
, used for the testing of pavement technologies and as a proving ground for new transportation technologies. The Smart Road is currently a stretch of road with turn-around loops at either end. Eventually, the road will be extended to a total of , which will directly connect
U.S. Route 460
U.S. Route 460 (US 460) is a spur route of U.S. Route 60. It currently runs for 655 miles (1,054 km) from Norfolk, Virginia, at its parent route U.S. Route 60 at Ocean View to Frankfort, Kentucky, intersecting its parent route once ...
in
Blacksburg to
Interstate 81
Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island ...
with an interchange near mile marker 121; however, there is no set time frame for completion. The
Wilson Creek Bridge was built for the Smart Road and, at tall, is the second tallest bridge in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The road and bridge are operated and maintained by the
Virginia Department of Transportation
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in downtown ...
.
[ It is also part of the Proposed ]Interstate 73
Interstate 73 (I-73) is a north–south Interstate Highway, located within the US state of North Carolina. Currently, there is one continuous section of I-73, totaling , first traversing the U.S. Route 220 (US 220) freeway from ...
Corridor.
Features
Smart Road features and operations include, but are not limited to:[
* A 2.2-mile, controlled-access test track built to interstate standards
* Two paved lanes
* Three bridges, including the Smart Road Bridge (the second tallest state-maintained bridge in Virginia)
* Full-time staff that coordinate all road activities
* 24/7 access control and oversight
* Centralized communications
* Lighting and weather system controls
* Safety assurance and surveillance
* Fourteen pavement sections, including an open-grade friction course
* In-pavement sensors (e.g., moisture, temperature, strain, vibration, weigh-in-motion)
* Zero-crown pavement section designed for flooded pavement testing
* An (AASHTO)-designated surface friction testing facility
* Seventy-five weather-making towers accessible on crowned and zero-crown pavement sections
* Artificial snow production of up to four inches per hour (based on suitable weather conditions)
* Production of differing intensities of rain with varying droplet sizes
* Fog production
* Two weather stations with official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather available within one mile
* Variable pole spacing designed to replicate 95 percent of national highway systems
* Multiple luminaire heads, including light-emitting diode (LED) modules
* A wireless mesh network variable control (i.e., luminaire dimming)
* A high-bandwidth fiber network
* A differential GPS base station
* Complete signal phase and timing (SPaT) using remote controls
* Wide shoulders for safe maneuvering during experimental testing
]
Segments
In 1994, VDOT unveiled two alternate routes for the Smart Road partially to avoid smooth purple coneflower populations in Ellett Valley.
References
External links
Virginia Smart RoadVirginia Tech Transportation InstituteVirginia Department of Transportation
Transportation in Montgomery County, Virginia
Virginia Tech
Roads in Virginia
Transportation engineering
Intelligent transportation systems
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