The $17.4 million Smart Road Bridge is Virginia's tallest, standing 175 feet above Wilson Creek. VDOT uses it as a proving ground.
Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — This article has been modified from its original version. The headline and heading have been changed to reflect the tone of the article. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
The Virginia Tech Smart Road was supposed to directly connect Blacksburg to Interstate 81, but instead the 2.2-mile, two-lane road managed by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute for research in the transportation arena has become a full-scale, state-of-the-art test bed for research purposes alone.
The concept for the road was first conceived in the mid-1980s. Twenty years ago, transportation patterns in Blacksburg looked very different than they do now. Four-lane U.S. 460, also known in town as Main Street, acted as the primary connecting road between Interstate 81, Christiansburg and Blacksburg.
As both the university and town populations increased, congestion on the slow speed thoroughfare became an issue with residents and visitors, and the Virginia Department of Transportation saw the need for greater access.
"VDOT did some studies and saw problems with overcrowding on 460 Business," said David Clarke, VDOT residency administrator. "We developed over 20 different alternate routes and focused on two: alternate 3A and alternate 6."
Alternate 3A is the 460-bypass highway that the majority of Blacksburg and Tech visitors use today to travel from the interstate. Clarke said that it had a short-term development plan and was finished for public use by the early 1990s, greatly altering the flow of traffic in the area and reducing congestion.
Alternate 6 is currently what is seen today as the Smart Road. In its initial development stages, its intention was to act as a 5.7-mile-long connection route between Blacksburg and Roanoke, shaving off approximately 30 minutes from the drive between town and city. At the time, the Roanoke-Virginia Tech Advisory Council wanted "a better link between the Virginia Tech campus and the bigger business capital of the area, which was Roanoke," Clarke said.
However, the plan for this road was long term and the 460 bypass helped to alleviate traffic issues in the area.
"VDOT and local governments do long-range transportation plans," Clarke said, "i.e. have maps with lines denoting where we think we'll need roads in the future. The Smart Road was a line on a map."
But unique ideas for the connecting project came in the late 1980s with suggestions by city and state officials, as well as the Virginia Congress, to develop the road in a way that it could be used for transportation research. Early visions included looking at ways the roads could aid in steering vehicles and detecting lateral movements.
Officials and researchers "wanted to use what was then very new technology, such as cell phone and navigation systems, and look at putting computer technology, called Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems, in cars," Clarke said. "They couldn't test on a road like Interstate 81 because it would be too dangerous. The idea was to look at an identified future corridor, build a portion early and use it to advance highway and safety technology."
The proposed Blacksburg-Roanoke connecting road's proximity to what is now called the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, one of the state's biggest transportation research centers, was an added incentive.
"Virginia Tech and VTTI were partnered with VDOT and FHWA from the beginning," Clarke said.
So, construction on the 2.2-mile portion of the research road began, with both road construction experts as well as research scientists aiding in its design. The first phase of construction was finished in 1999, with the second phase being completed in 2001. The current road cost about $60 million to build, with an additional bridge totaling about $17.4 million of the expense. Virginia Tech paid about $8 million of the cost, directed toward the research facilities and features.
Although the road is technically owned and maintained by VDOT, Tech operates it in its current capacity.
"VDOT has Tech operate the road for us as a research facility and VTTI is the agent for doing so," Clarke said.
The Smart Road boasts a fully instrumented intersection, underground wiring systems and road sensors, as well as 75 weather towers capable of producing rain, snow and fog. It also includes 12 different types of pavement and 39 overhead light towers.
"We can reproduce between 95 and 97 percent of all lighting scenarios in the U.S.," said Sherri Box, VTTI communications manager.
The road is used as a testing tool among all 12 centers of VTTI, including the Center for Automotive Safety Research and the Center for Vehicle-Infrastructure Safety. Research project scheduling is maintained by VTTI staff.
"Our control room is staffed 24/7," Box said, indicating the high level of Smart Road research use.
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cut down the drive from bburg to roanoke by 30min? so i could get to the airport in 15-20min?
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The headline of this article has nothing to do with the content. And the information is all twirled around incorrectly. The Smart Road's long-term goal has always been (projecting past the year 2015, to be completed as the link to I-81 directly from Blacksburg. It's initial funding, intent and purpose however have always been as a test bed facility for VT research. And the long-term goal of one day connecting to I-81 was always just that, a long-term goal based on traffic volume and funding. As you state, the design work is complete, the right of ways are owned and once the I-73 proposal and/or overall funding becomes available it will be completed. No headache, just the process.
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That's a hell of a lot of spin that has been put on the Smart Road story since its early days. While it has panned out to be a good research center for VT, it didn't start that way. A handful of powerful people wanted that road and a lot of lies and half-truths were used to get the road built. There were questionable actions by the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, pressure from university administrators, and attempts to shut down public opposition to the project. When VDOT finally got around to looking to solve the traffic problems, about 10 years after they were first noticed, there were about 20 different alternatives identified. They ranged from "do nothing" to widen the existing road, to various routings of a new road (including several routes to I-81 at the Ironto exit). Because of congestion and an increasing number of traffic lights on 460, travel time to Roanoke at times took more than an hour -- that is where the "shave 30 minutes" came into play. Alternative 3A, the "connect the bypasses" plan, was selected as being the least costly with the most benefit. The route the Smart Road is on was rejected as being too costly for the benefits and because of environmental issues.
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But when some monied individuals and politicians got involved, all the problems disappeared. Spending the money to build the road was touted as a solution for the future when the new road got too congested ("why not plan the new road with space for additional lanes for the future?" was a question from the public). The research dollars that would come to the region were waved about as an incentive, but no one had done any type of study to fully document just how much money might be spent on research. While the road was being pushed as something that would be completed to I-81 within about 10 years after the first phase (the research section) was built, people were wondering how research (that was so vitally important and lucrative) would continue on an active road -- when the benefits of a closed system were pushed as another reason to build the Smart Road. In the end, the citizens who were opposed to the Smart Road for a variety of reasons learned that "you can't fight city hall" and that "money talks." There are still unfulfilled promises that were made to appease some of the opponents and it is unlikely they will ever be met.
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great article Laura. Very interesting stuff.
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Yeah cutting down the drive to Roanoke by 30 minutes seems quite a bit far fetched. The drive take me 40 minutes on a normal Friday afternoon. So, that would mean 10 minutes?? Yeah doesn't even seem possible.....
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In the late '70s, there wasn't much on 460 between B'burg and C'burg/I-81. There was a traffic light at 114 & the S. end of C'burg bypass. Then a light was added @ the hospital as traffic increased. VDOT said then something would need to be done, but it took about 8 years to start the study. When VDOT finally said "build" the Mall and original Wal-Mart were in place along with more traffic lights (including one for the left turn onto the C'burg bypass). On Fridays, after football games, and especially T'giving, traffic would back up to the end of the B'burg bypass. It took longer to get from Southgate to I-81 than it did to get down I-81 to Roanoke/I-581. That's where the "30 minutes" came from, although most mentions were in the "10-15 minute" range for time saved.
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I love driving. sbanks06@vt.edu
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I actually have most of the signals that used to hang at the left turn onto the C'Burg bypass. I got them when VDOT removed them and gave them away to various people. One is in Georgia, one is Alabama, one is in Virginia, one of the left turn arrows is in PA, where it points right (to a garage door) now. Ha!
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Bypass 3A addressed many of the congestion issues in the Blacksburg to I-81 corridor. The Smart Road was viewed as ultimately serving I-73, which was assumed to be about a decade away, going between the NC line, Roanoke and up into West Virginia (along an upgraded US 460 corridor) and onto the King Coal Expressway. Of course, a lot has changed since then, VDOT, price of gas, asphalt, route alignments, etc.
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