To be a ‘smart city,’ you better be ‘street smart’…literally. Start-up firm Integrated Roadways of Kansas City is developing “smart pavement” technology that will not only help increase roadway safety but could also serve as the platform for WiFi for cars and other future mobility services, reported the Kansas City Star.
The road system uses high-resolution fiber optic sensors and other technologies inside the pavement to detect vehicle position in real time as well as roadway conditions. “Smart pavement is a factory-produced pavement system that transforms the road into a sensor, data and connectivity network for next-generation vehicles,” said Tim Sylvester, founder, chief executive and president of Integrated Roadways.
This spring, a half-mile of smart pavement will be deployed to collect data on run-off-the-road crashes as well as automatically alert authorities of the crashes, two benefits of the technology. The Colorado Department of Transportation has awarded a $2.75 million contract for a five-year smart pavement project on U.S. Highway 285, reported the Star.
To construct the smart pavement, Integrated Roadways is teaming up with Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Cisco Systems, WSP Global and Wichita Concrete Pipe. The primary purpose of the test will be to collect real-time data about vehicles and traffic. According to Peter Kozinski, director of the RoadX program with the Colorado Department of Transportation, “We believe that Integrated Roadways has an interesting concept that we want to see how well it works.”
Another potential benefit of the smart pavement, is being able to design changes in the road to prevent crashes in the future, based on the data collected. Unlike most road construction where crews build the roadway on site, the smart pavement is a collection of precast, factory-built concrete slabs that are shipped to the construction site, reported the Star.
Published May 30, 2018
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