ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997              TAG: 9702240097
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 

THE ROAD'S CAPABILITIES

Virginia Tech's Center for Transportation Research site has two strong points: There is nothing else like it. And, Tom Dingus, who runs the Center for Transportation Research, is widely respected in the industry.

This is what the smart road will feature:

* 72 snow-making towers, able to make 4 inches of snow per hour over a half-mile stretch of the 2-mile test bed. The towers will also be able to generate 2 inches per hour of rain, and a fog-like mist.

* A fiber-optic communication backbone for testing and demonstrating ITS products.

* A local-area wireless network for vehicle-to-roadside communication to help those working on vehicle location products and traveler information systems.

LENGTH: Short :   25 lines
KEYWORDS: SMART ROAD