Missouri DOT seeking smart pavement proposals for Road to Tomorrow pilot project

Updated Sep 17, 2016

emptyroadThe Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is seeking proposals for smart pavement projects as part of five pilot projects for the agency’s Road to Tomorrow initiative.

The agency announced in June it would move forward on the pilot projects this year. MoDOT announced the Road to Tomorrow initiative last year, in which it is turning Interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis into a “laboratory for construction of the next generation of highways” for private entities to test out new technologies.

The smart pavement project is a priority because the agency wants to see if the concept can make roads “sustainably self-funded by providing value-added wireless services to support mobile connectivity and next-generation electric, connected and autonomous vehicles.” MoDOT says the intent of smart pavement is to provide a suite of digital, communication and information services for its own purposes and to motor carriers and other commercial fleet operators and private drivers.

“We want to see if interstate travelways can become a platform to generate revenue through the collection and transmission of technology and data services,” Road to Tomorrow Team Lead Tom Blair says.

The deadline for proposals is October 31 and the agency expects to select a “best-value proposer” in February.

More information on the request for proposal is available here, or by contacting MoDOT’s Kansas City Assistant District Engineer Brian Kidwell at 816-607-2282, or [email protected].