Skip to main content

MoDOT ‘Road to Tomorrow’ ready to move on pilot projects

Launched in 2015, the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) ‘Road to Tomorrow’ initiative is ready to move on five pilot projects, according to Equipment World. MoDOT plans to utilise innovation and construction to rebuild the state’s oldest interstate highway, Interstate 90 and make the highway from Kansas City to St Louis available to private industry, entrepreneurs and innovators as a laboratory for construction of the next generation of highways. MoDOT has made a 2016 TIGER Grant request
June 17, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Launched in 2015, the 1773 Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) ‘Road to Tomorrow’ initiative is ready to move on five pilot projects, according to Equipment World.

MoDOT plans to utilise innovation and construction to rebuild the state’s oldest interstate highway, Interstate 90 and make the highway from Kansas City to St Louis available to private industry, entrepreneurs and innovators as a laboratory for construction of the next generation of highways.

MoDOT has made a 2016 TIGER Grant request that would fund a ‘smart pavement’ project in the Kansas City region, along with one for a Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives grant that would examine new sustainable funding sources.

It also hopes to move forward with a pilot project to test the truck platooning concept on Missouri highways, where wireless connectivity between commercial trucks enables the second truck to follow at a close distance for better fuel economy and enhanced safety.

A request for proposals (RFP) has been issued for an Internet of Things (IoT) broker, who would respond to the demand for devices/networks on the state’s right of way to enable the use of connecting devices and vehicles using electronic sensors and the Internet.

MoDOT has also issued an RFP for a pilot project to install ‘smart pavement’ for testing at a location to be determined. This would feature sensors and systems that enable vehicle-to-infrastructure and infrastructure-to-vehicle connected vehicle technologies and services and provide data to MoDOT, motor carriers and other commercial fleet operators and private drivers on a subscription basis to enable sustainable, self-funded infrastructure assets for public owners.

The Department also plans a Solar Roadways Pilot Project, where solar panels will be installed on sidewalks to test their potential for generating heat to melt snow and for generation of electricity for other purposes.

Related Content

  • November 6, 2015
    Support for US transportation bill
    The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) and the Teamsters have given their support to the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (the STRR Act), which was overwhelmingly approved by the US House of Representatives after three days of debate. The bipartisan, multi-year surface transportation bill to reauthorise and reform federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs helps improve US surface transportation infrastructure, refocuses programs on address
  • February 2, 2012
    Economic crisis needs non-partisan perspectives to stimulate growth
    Kary Witt, President of the IBTTA and Pat Jones, Executive Director and CEO, talk about the need to put aside partisan perspectives in order to deal with the current economic crisis
  • September 26, 2014
    America’s legislature to consider the future of 5.9GHz
    Colin Sowman catches up with the latest moves in the 5.9GHz exclusivity debate. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act, recently introduced to both the US Senate and its House of Representatives, moves into a new phase in the debate over the exclusive right of the 5.9GHz band for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications. If the Act comes into law, it would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct tests across the whole 5GHz band to determine if the spectrum can be shared without interfering with curr
  • October 28, 2019
    ARTBA president: what happened to the hoverboards?
    What keeps Dave Bauer up at night? David Arminas caught up with the head of ARTBA at his Washington, DC office during daylight hours Dave Bauer doesn’t really have many sleepless nights. He might sleep, though, with one eye open, just in case. “We have become a much more divided country politically,” says Bauer, president of ARTBA – American Road and Transportation Builders Association. “Whether you are thinking about federal government, or state or local government, there’s a hostility now in our politi