Lenexa City, Kansas, USA, is advancing plans with Integrated Roadways and Kiewit—two companies heading up the project—to install “smart pavement” in Lenexa City Center. The plan has been in place for at least 3 years after the test roads were approved by Colorado DOT (CDOT) in 2018. Please see 2 ISCP links from the initial stages:
VIDEO from August 2018: https://www.concretepavements.org/2018/08/28/video-integrated-roadways-how-intelligent-could-smart-roads-become/
ARTICLE from August 2018: https://www.concretepavements.org/2018/08/28/how-intelligent-could-smart-roads-become/
In a presentation to the Lenexa City Council in April 2021, representatives from the two companies gave a status update on the Showcase City Center project, which involves deploying “smart pavement” panels at five key intersections within the city’s centralized hub.
The smart pavement system is a series of precast concrete slabs
with sensors inside, embedded with digital technology
& fiber optic connectivity, that can track real-time traffic data.
The traffic data is fully anonymous, but it shows lane usage, speed metrics, and even vehicle types. The agreement establishes the requirements for the project, and also prohibits sensors within the “smart pavement” from collecting any personal identifiable information from vehicles that drive on it.
Tim Sylvester, Founder-Integrated Roadways said, “This allows the city to get experience and familiarity, truly be the leader of the pack in the United States for the next generation of infrastructure from nose to tail. And then the implementation of the traffic services and the data collection… which really sets up Lenexa to be one of the smartest cities in the nation and have a long-term program to continue expanding and enhancing that kind of city intelligence, which, as far as I’m aware, is unprecedented around the nation.”
Meeting Highlights:
• Kiewit Engineering and Integrated Roadways will submit a project plan for city approval before work on any of the intersections will begin
• First intersection upgrade is slated for late 2021
• City and companies will consider smart paving for five intersections slated (one at a time):
– 87th and Lennox
– 87th and Renner
– 89th and Renner
– 93rd and Renner
– 95th and Renner
• after the first 5 are embedded with smart pavement, then the city and companies will decide on where to extend the technology in other areas of Lenexa
Paving the way for future technology:
Representatives of Kiewit, Integrated Roadways, and Lenexa City staff said the smart pavement project will pave the way for future technologies within Lenexa City Center. The smart pavement lays the groundwork for future technology by embedding the framework for “Smart City” capabilities. In general, these potential projects could include in-pavement high-speed wireless services so users could connect to the internet.
Sean McLaughlin, Attorney-Lenexa City, informed city leaders that wifi users who connect to third-party systems could be identified, but that is unrelated to the smart pavement.
Electric vehicles could one day charge themselves while driving on the smart pavement. Eventually, autonomous vehicles could also drive on the smart pavement, effectively creating an autonomous vehicle transit loop (kind of like a bus system).
How to pay for it:
Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is committing $250,000 to the project, and Integrated Roadways and Kiewit plan to finance the project through private partners. Sylvester said they see their project as offsetting the city’s costs for future road work improvements.
He added, “If we work together to select projects appropriately that match to your expectations for capital improvements over this 10-year period, we believe that we can help extend, enhance and improve some of the projects that you’re already planning to do and offset some of those expenses through the use of the smart pavement technology.
In addition, the companies solicited feedback from about 300 businesses in Lenexa, inquiring if they would be interested in the real-time traffic data provided by the smart pavement technology. Feedback results:
• 88% of those businesses want that type of data to assist with marketing decisions
• 90% think the data is worth at least $99 a month—meaning the companies could sell this data (again, obtained anonymously) to businesses to help pay for the smart infrastructure
For the Shawnee Mission Post online news article titled “Lenexa City Center ‘smart pavement’ plan moves forward — how and when it could impact drivers”, please go to: https://shawneemissionpost.com/2021/04/15/lenexa-smart-pavement-119376/
Home page photo: Work on Lenexa’s first smart pavement project is slated to begin later in 2021. Adesign illustration of the smart pavement technology as portrayed by Integrated Roadways and Kiewit Engineering, the companies heading up the project.