Skip to main content

Creating the world’s first sustainable highway

The Mission Zero Corridor Project in West Georgia, US, believes that it is possible to have a ‘green highway’. To this end, it has appointed breakthrough innovation consultancy Innovia Technology to help create a ‘travel corridor’ and rethink the purpose and function of this infrastructure to generate social, environmental and economic value. The project aims to be a fitting legacy for the late Ray C. Anderson, ‘the greenest CEO and founder of Interface, the global manufacturer of modular carpet. A
August 10, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The Mission Zero Corridor Project in West Georgia, US, believes that it is possible to have a ‘green highway’. To this end, it has appointed breakthrough innovation consultancy Innovia Technology to help create a ‘travel corridor’ and rethink the purpose and function of this infrastructure to generate social, environmental and economic value.
 
The project aims to be a fitting legacy for the late Ray C. Anderson, ‘the greenest CEO and founder of Interface, the global manufacturer of modular carpet.
 
Anderson developed the Mission Zero framework to eliminate Interface’s environmental impact while maintaining productivity and still turning a profit. The aim was a promise to “eliminate any negative impacts the company may have on the environment by 2020” and the framework created a blueprint for business sustainability.
 
As a memorial to Anderson, the Ray C Anderson Foundation is using a 16-mile stretch of the Interstate 85 in Troup County, West Georgia, as a living experiment to demonstrate that it is possible to build a ‘regenerative, restorative and sustainable highway’.
 
To get the project started the Foundation and Interface funded a vision study through The Georgia Conservancy’s Blueprints for Successful Communities program. Using Interface’s Mission Zero framework as a roadmap, graduate students in the School of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with studio instruction from a team of architects from Perkins+Will in Atlanta, explored how a highway could be a tool of change.
 
The outcome was an inspirational report that identifies a broad range of potential technologies and opportunities.
 
Innovia will provide a creative exploration of new opportunities, evaluate the technologies for viability and scalability and propose a strategy to bring the vision to life by attracting the engagement and support of key stakeholders.

Related Content

  • Mounting benefits of dynamic tolling project
    January 30, 2012
    Wisconsin's four-year HOT lanes pilot project, launched in May 2008, cost US$18.8 million to construct. Halfway into the project, which uses variably priced, or dynamic, tolling to improve highway efficiency, the benefits are mounting. The problem was obvious, and frustrating, to anyone who ever sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic on State Route 167 and watched a lone car whiz by every 20 seconds or so in the carpool lane. But for planners at the Washington State Department of Transportation, the conundrum was
  • Australian ITS summit focus on safety, congestion, sustainability
    July 24, 2012
    From 18-20 November 2009, the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit will be held in Melbourne. Tim Pallas, Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports sets the scene and explains its objectives. Co-hosted by the Victorian Government and ITS Australia, the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit (ITS 09), being held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, is expected to attract in excess of 300 delegates with presentations and workshops providing a comprehensive update of ITS technologi
  • Eucar calls for targeted support for automotive research and innovation initiatives
    June 21, 2012
    The European Council for Automotive R&D (Eucar) has called for a number of priority automotive research and innovation (R&I) initiatives in Horizon 2020 to support competitive and sustainable road transport and for these initiatives to be supported by a substantial budget that reflects the sector’s social and economic contribution to Europe. Rémi Bastien, chairman of Eucar, set out the association’s recommendations on Horizon 2020 to an audience of MEPs and stakeholders at a seminar in the European Parliame