GC: n

CT: Missouri wants to make a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 70 the nation’s first smart highway. What exactly that means, and how such a project would be paid for, remains unclear.
On Wednesday, Stephen Miller, chairman of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, announced the state’s “Road to Tomorrow” initiative: a call for those inside and outside the state to come up with a way to rebuild the highway between Independence and Wentzville as a technologically advanced highway. Right now, he said, the state has no clear plan on how to make that happen.
In an interview, Miller said the state is open to suggestions from entrepreneurs, innovators, small businesses and established companies on how exactly I-70 could be overhauled. He said it’s not a plan, or a solution for the state’s transportation funding woes, but rather a new direction and a new goal.
In an interview, Miller said the state is open to suggestions from entrepreneurs, innovators, small businesses and established companies on how exactly I-70 could be overhauled. He said it’s not a plan, or a solution for the state’s transportation funding woes, but rather a new direction and a new goal.
“It’s not a solution,” Miller said. “The objective is to find a solution.”
The announcement doesn’t mean the Missouri Department of Transportation is going to give up on finding new revenue streams. The agency charged with keeping up the state’s transportation infrastructure still faces a budget crisis, he said, and it won’t be giving up on a gas tax increase.
Miller said he also is hopeful the promise of possible technological innovation in Missouri will help pump new life into the agency. He said MoDOT still is looking for a new permanent director — former CFO Roberta Broeker is the interim leader — and is dealing with serious attrition of its engineering talent. Hopefully, he said, the opportunity to develop a first-of-its-kind highway in Missouri will help reverse that trend.
Plans for how exactly the state will vet proposals, and possibly move ahead with them, still is being worked out. Miller said he expects the details will be resolved in the near future.

S: http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2015/06/03/missouri-smart-highway.html (last access: 13 December 2015)

N: 1. smart (adj): late Old English smeart “painful, severe, stinging; causing a sharp pain,” related to smeortan. Meaning “executed with force and vigor” is from c. 1300. Meaning “quick, active, clever” is attested from c. 1300, from the notion of “cutting” wit, words, etc., or else “keen in bargaining.” Meaning “trim in attire” first attested 1718, “ascending from the kitchen to the drawing-room c. 1880” (Weekley). For sense evolution, compare sharp (adj.).
In reference to devices, the sense of “behaving as though guided by intelligence” (as in smart bomb) first attested 1972. Smarts “good sense, intelligence,” is first recorded 1968 (Middle English had ingeny “intellectual capacity, cleverness” (early 15c.)). Smart cookie is from 1948.
highway (n): Old English heahweg “main road from one town to another;” see high (adj.) in sense of “main” + way (n.). High street (Old English heahstræte) was the word before 17c. applied to highways and main roads, whether in the country or town, especially one of the Roman roads. In more recent usage, it generally is the proper name of the street of a town which is built upon a highway and was the principal street of the place. Highway robbery is from 1707; as a trivial expression for something too costly, 1886.
2. Freeway equipped with intelligent transportation systems that capture data on road use, process the data and provide users and stakeholders with information that can be used to improve traffic management and road safety.
3. A highway or lane section where appropriately equipped vehicles are driven automatically, with no input from the driver.
4. automated highway: term and definition proposed by the World Road Association.
5. Smart Highway is the result of an intensive collaboration between builder and developer Heijmans and designer Daan Roosegaarde. The themes sustainability, safety and perception are key to the concept and are manifested in the newest technologies in energy and light.
A lot has been written about intelligent highways since the eighties. However, until now the focus of innovation was on the car. Heijmans and Studio Roosegaarde tackle this issue on a large scale by innovating the road deck with designs such as ‘Glow-in-the-dark Lining’, ‘Dynamic Paint’, ‘Interactive Light’ and ‘Electric Priority Lane’. Together they want to make the road sustainable and interactive through means of smart lighting, harvesting energy, and traffic signs that adapt to the road situation. The design and interactivity of Studio Roosegaarde and Heijmans’ specialized knowledge and experience brings out the best of two worlds. Although the differences between the two companies are great, they share their most important goal: innovating the Dutch landscape.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=smart; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=highway (last access: 13 December 2015). 2. GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26501745 (last access: 13 December 2015). 3 & 4. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 13 December 2015). 5. http://www.smarthighway.net/ (last access: 13 December 2015).

SYN: automated highway, automatic motorway, intelligent highway.

S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 13 December 2015)

CR: computer science, intelligent system, intelligent transportation system.