WARNING: Weather Ahead

摘要

It is a bright, sunny day. Except on this two-mile road, where the rain is coming down in torrents. The forecast is for snow tomorrow, but only on this road. And next Tuesday, fog is scheduled to appear between 2:45 and 4:30 p.m. Welcome to Smart Road, the world's only climate-controlled test highway where weather conditions- from freezing rain to pea-soup fog- are made to order. The 2.2-mile road off Interstate 81 near Blacksburg, Virginia, is a joint project of Virginia Polytechnic's Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration. The road opened to business in 2000 and is revolutionizing approach- es to driving and weather through the use of state-of-the-art environmental equipment.