Virginia's Smart Road Becomes Reality
IVsource.net
24 June 2000

The one-of-a-kind facility offers an operational testbed for smart vehicles and smart highways. Championed by Ray Pethtel, associate director for Virginia Tech's Center for Transportation Research and a former state road commissioner, the Smart Road provides a real-world laboratory for testing vehicle sensors, cooperative vehicle-highway systems, and advanced highway approaches. Proponents claim the Road is an ideal testing environment for everything from vehicle dynamics, road-to-vehicle communications, and automated vehicle control, to safety / human factors research and ITS product evaluation. 

The Smart Road's uniqueness lies in the combination of a completely real roadway environment and the ability to generate virtually all types of weather conditions. Marketing is targeted at government researchers and vehicle product developers. Testing for under-wraps automotive systems can be run on the roadway in private, managers say.

Big Plans, Big Interest

The facility cost $37M to construct and consists of a 1.7 mile (2.8 km) section of instrumented highway. The road is part of a larger, 5.7 mile (9.5 km) project scheduled for completion in 2008 that will connect Interstate 81 to Blacksburg, home of the university. The total number of staff is expected to grow to over 100, including specialists in human factors research, vehicle dynamics, pavements, transportation, and ITS.

The road is not yet open to the public and is used completely for testing. Once the entire length of highway is completed, it will be open for public use except during planned testing periods.

"One thing is for sure — we are very busy," says Ashwin Amanna, Smart Road's project manager. "Some weeks are booked solid," he continues. "Testing is ranging from pavement testing to night visibility to rear brake signalling." He adds that they continue to operate in a "shake out" mode with systems like the lighting, all weather testing, and fiber optic system coming on line as part of the start-up process.

Click on "Major Storm"

The Smart Road stands out with its ambitious weather-making capability. Snowmaking equipment used at ski resorts was adapted for the facility, which uses up to 3,000 gallons of water per minute to create both snow and exceptionally realistic rainstorms. "The rainmaking [ability] of the facility is incredible. Inside a rainstorm visibility goes to almost zero immediately," says Amanna. Interchangeable nozzles on the rainmaking gear are used to control the size of water droplets and thus the type of precipitation. The air compressor system (required for snowmaking) will be on line next month, and researchers hope to use it to help in mist/fog simulation.

The facility uses 75 weather towers, which are capable of producing 2 inches of rain per hour and 4 inches of snow per hour, or misting/icing conditions. The only thing they don't control is the air temperature — snow and ice creation only can happen in the winter, but in this mountainous area, temperatures fall well below the freezing point from December through February on a fairly consistent basis. Project managers estimate at least three hours of snow-making temperatures will exist each day for 55 days during the average winter.

The price of rain? A full-on rainstorm costs $733 per hour plus labor fees. A major snowstorm runs about $938 per hour.

Lights, Magnets, Sensors ... the Works

Aside from weathermaking, the Smart Road boasts a broad portfolio of other advanced capabilities. A variety of lighting conditions can be simulated on the Smart Road using an array of luminaries. 3M's magnetic tape is installed throughout for lane departure countermeasures and lateral guidance testing. The Road's operators have use of an advanced communications system, including a local-area wireless network interfaced with a fiber-optic backbone.

A major focus of the facility is pavement testing — over 400 sensors are installed in the pavement, which collect data on stress, strain, pressure, moisture, frost depth, and traffic counts. Data is routed to the central control center through the LAN. Turnarounds at each end of the test bed allow for continuous driving. And, for those less interested in the performance of the road itself, the testbed offers a range of features conducive to straight-up vehicle testing: varied terrain, including a six percent grade; a range of elevations; curves; and several bridges.

List of Current Projects is Varied

Smart Road clients include vehicle system developers and highway researchers. In addition to pavement testing, numerous other projects are already underway:

• a rear-brake signaling human factors project for Ford, which includes radar and signaling techniques to warn following drivers that they are too close;
• examinations of driver workload and overload, also by Ford;
• FHWA/Virginia DOT studies focused on lighting, including:
• the appearance of advanced ultraviolet vehicle headlamps
• the effectiveness of fluorescent traffic control devices under UV driving lights
• pedestrian and object visibility under a variety of lighting techniques 
• driver overconfidence while using advanced headlighting techniques
• interactions of ultraviolet-sensitive pavement markings and UV headlights 
• Small Target Visibility using the experimental overhead lighting section for FHWA photometric research;
• development of a database on short- and long-haul truckers, correlating driver performance with their sleep patterns;
• investigations into driver attention while using in-vehicle internet e-mail, cellular telephones, and navigation displays;
• evaluation of magnetic tape for vehicle position location by 3M;
• investigations of snow and ice control measures using the road's all-weather capabilities, conducted by VDOT and Virginia Tech. 

Other projects are under discussion: Smart Road is talking to NHTSA about using the facility for developing enhanced incident investigation techniques, as well as studies using the rainmaking capability to investigate windshield wiper performance and vehicle brake fade.

More clients are likely to come knocking when nearby Roanoke, Virginia hosts two major winter maintenance conferences this September: the Transportation Research Board (TRB) International Snow Show and the Eastern Regional Winter Maintenance Conference. Both will feature tours of the Smart Road, and officials are hoping the road's all-weather testing may generate leads for some research into anti-icing, de-icing, and snow plow operations.

Ten Years from Vision to Reality

The vision for Smart Road, which originated locally in Blacksburg, got a boost in 1990 when US Congressman Rick Boucher asked a congressional committee for funding for a demonstration project: the first smart road to be built from the ground up in the United States. As other support was lined up, the connector was included in VDOT's 1991-92 Six-Year Improvement Program, and the federal ISTEA legisltation in 1991 dedicated $5.9 million for research and planning.

In early 1992, a location for the Smart Road was chosen by Virginia's overarching transportation approval body, the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Design for the Road -- originally envisioned as a series of test beds ultimately ending at I-81 -- was initiated that year. In 1993 the Center for Transportation Research at Virginia Tech was awarded a $3 million Federal research grant, and the university joined the National Automated Highway System Consortium (NAHSC) as an Associate Member. 

Groundbreaking for the Smart Road took place July 8, 1997, and construction on the first 1.7-mile segment was completed in December 1999. The second phase of construction is scheduled for completion in 2001. As funds become available, the entire road to I-81 will be designed and built as envisioned, in a series of test beds for research into emerging transportation technology.

Robust Usage 

Critics of Smart Road abounded over the years during its planning, saying that the road was a needless imposition on natural areas and that the facility would never attract paying users to recoup the costs of operation. Happily for the Center, early results point to the fulfillment of the projections of supporters at Virginia Tech. By the end of the year, it is estimated that the facility will have booked $3M in research, with 2/3 coming from federal and state agencies, and 1/3 from the private sector -- not a bad start.

Enhancements Already in the Works

Near-term plans call for the roadway to be retrofitted with a new weigh-in-motion system that is currently very popular in Europe. By next year, Amanna says, they hope to have some bridge de-icing systems and other Roadway Weather Information Systems (RWIS) put in place.

And, as always, the Smart Road is open to proposals.

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Smart Road Location
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Smart Road Control Center in Blacksburg, VA
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

View of Smart Road Shortly After Opening in March 2000
 
 
 
 

Facts About Virginia's Smart Road

Weather Testing - .5-mile (.8 km) 

• 75 weather towers rotate 360 degrees, pivot to handle changing wind conditions 
• At peak height of 40 feet, towers make up to two inches of rain / hour in various size droplets, or up to four inches of snow, or a layer of ice (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

• 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 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

• 12 "Superpave" asphalt sections and two concrete designs on two-mile test track 
• Fiber-optic cable links 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 helps avoid salt and chemical corrosion in steel rebar
• 3M magnetic tape to measure vehicle lane deviations, assess driver performance; future tape research may involve guidance alarms for snowplows, 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, handle additional power and data needs as test road is extended 
• Future: overhead variable message signs and sensors 
• Future: "toolbox" on road will include Global Positioning System to help measure driver performance, and to back up automated control systems 
• 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

• 30,000-square-foot building at road's western end monitors and controls 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

• Virginia's tallest bridge _ road surface 170 feet (52 m) high (12 feet [3.7 m] 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 (122 m)long; includes three 472-foot (145 m) spans (spans on most bridges average 150 feet [46 m] ) 
• Concrete box structure beneath driving surface carries power and comm lines entire length of bridge, with access points through surface for 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 (4.6 m) 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 (10.5 m) at piers to 14 feet (4.3 m)at mid-span 
• Faces of four-sided piers inlaid with decorative, "Hokie"-type (local) stone

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... contact Ashwin Amanna at aamanna@ctr.vt.edu or access www.vdot.state.va.us/proj/smartx.html.

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