In late 2014, VTTI and VDOT launched the Virginia Connected Corridors (VCC), comprising the Virginia Smart Roads and the Northern Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed. The latter covers Interstates 66 and 495 and U.S. 29 and 50, widely considered to be among the most congested corridors in the U.S. The combined roadways and surrounding environment provide considerable transportation challenges that may be addressed and mitigated by advanced vehicle technology. The VCC currently includes 56 roadside units installed on freeways, arterials, and the Smart Roads. Thirty of these units interface directly with VDOT’s existing signal controllers to support the broadcast of SPaT and MAP messages, which will facilitate the rollout of higher-level automated vehicles. VDOT, along with researchers from VTTI and its partners, has used this facility to implement 30 connected vehicle applications that can be used by a wide range of vehicles (e.g., passenger, transit, emergency vehicles, motorcycles) to provide a variety of information, including traveler information, lane closure alerts, work zone alerts, incident management, and merge management. The VCC infrastructure includes a developer-friendly, cloud computing environment that supports the development and deployment of third-party applications; data exchange services; application program interfaces and reference applications for developers; support for the migration of applications from the Smart Road to public roadways; and instrumentation and data acquisition systems for the post-deployment safety assessments.
VCC Partners
