Something I learned about in VA after I left is an advanced outdoor "smart road" laboratory near Blacksburg. It is eventually going to go the whole 6 miles from Blacksburg to I-81, making a nifty bypass for travelers, and the professors and students of Va Tech as a side benefit. But it now extends just 2 miles, mainly the beautiful concrete and local "hokey stone" bridge in the picture below, looming like the jolly green giant over Wilson Creek. It has test road beds of different surface materials. The bridge's deck sits atop what is, in effect, a long, hollow box strung with power and communication lines. Access points through the deck allow researchers to place and read test equipment, collect data and observe traffic moving at highway speeds. From a control room they can blast snow or rain at will, vary the height and intensity of lighting, and will study all kinds of advances and inventions in roadway engineering.
It was proposed way back in the 80's, planned in the 90's, broke ground in 1997, phase 2 completed in 2002, Designed and implemented by Commonwealth of Va DOT and Virginia Tech, with federal grants, of course.
When going south on Rt I-81, say, from Roanoke down the "Valley" toward North Carolina, the terrain really changes for the better - rock faces and dramatic hills along the road - as it approaches the Christiansburg area, where you have to get off to wind your way over secondary roads to Blacksburg, so I am sure a bypass will be appreciated even if you have to be studied by pencil-necked grad students, transportation engineers, and cameras along the way.
