Virginia's Smart Road
Which was originally intended to become part of I-73 or I-74, or both.
That wild idea came later. The route of the Smart Road was initially part of 15+ alternatives proposed to improve the connection between Blacksburg (home of Virginia Tech and at the time, 20,000+ students, plus football traffic) and I-81 at Christiansburg and ultimately to Roanoke and beyond. The proposals went from "do nothing" to various parallel roadways on either side of the existing inadequate highway to several direct routes to some location on I-81. The "connect the bypasses" plan was the one adopted. Several influential people saw a direct route from the end of the Blacksburg bypass to I-81 as the better alternative and pushed for it to happen (even though it wouldn't connect to I-81 very far north of the current exit 118). A number of ploys were put forth to eventually get the road built, including how it would solve the problem of the "connect the bypasses" becoming overburdened with traffic. Someone decided a road test bed would be a good start and the Smart Road was born (among much dissent and consternation at the time, since a lot of the proposal was made up out of thin air -- there was no hard study to show the need or benefits). The plan gained enough traction early in the design of the new road so that the junction of S. Main St., the end of the current bypass, and the new highway became quite complex with the addition of multiple ramps and overpasses (one of which, while rarely used as part of the Smart Road, was on the verge of failure) to be available when the new road was completed to I-81. Construction of the Smart Road started, including the tallest bridge in Virginia to carry the short section of highway over a deep valley, where the road ended in a turnaround loop. Fast forward a few years and the concept of a closed testbed took off, where various conditions could be controlled (an innovative water system was installed to produce rain at various intensities, and fog and snow under the right conditions). The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute landed a number of research contracts, expanded it studies with drivers operating their own vehicles that had been instrumented to record various inputs (I just completed a lengthy study with my Honda Passport with adaptive cruise control and lane assist to collect data on those features). The VTTI facilities expanded to include an area of surface streets and a new area under the tall bridge is now available with conditions found on various rural roads.
When the idea of I-73 popped up, some influential politicians were successful in having the routing established to run from Greensboro to Roanoke and on to West Virginia and beyond. The idea of an interstate connecting Roanoke and Greensboro is still alive but anything new west of Roanoke is pretty much dead. But to push the idea, completion of the Smart Road from I-81 to Blacksburg to then use U.S. 460 around Blacksburg as part of the interstate took hold. The problem was the lack of a reasonable (and acceptable) corridor through Giles County and the big issue, a lack of money. The idea that was proposed was that the Smart Road could continue to function as a research project, with the added benefit of having live traffic on the road. To allow for the original use of the road as a closed course, it was proposed that the road could be closed during certain times of the day with traffic routed on up to Exit 118 and on U.S 460 to reach Blacksburg and the continuation of I-73. The idea died but was brought up again briefly a few years ago (and again died for lack of any funding).
Bruce in Blacksburg
