Short Road to Next Ride

This article discusses about the Virginia Smart Road that is frequently used by automobile researchers to test new ideas and concepts. The Virginia Smart Road is a unique, state-of-the-art, closed test-bed research facility managed by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation. Over two-dozen major non-proprietary research projects use the Smart Road for testing in a given year. Participating organizations include heavy hitters such as car manufacturers, the Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Federal Highway Administration’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. The Smart Road features two paved lanes and three bridges, one of which ranks, at 175 feet, as the tallest state-maintained bridge in Virginia. It also has a signalized intersection; in-pavement sensors for moisture, temperature, strain, vibration, and weighing in motion; a lighting test bed; and the half-mile-long weather-making section. Some other features include an on-site data acquisition system, a high-bandwidth fiber network, a differential global positioning system base station, and traffic signal phase and timing using remote controls.