"Smart" Road Citizen's Advisory Committee

The "Smart" Road is a project designed by the Virginia Department of Transportation to build a roadway as a direct link between Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia. The roadway was deemed necessary to alleviate congestion on the existing Route 460, particularly the portion that travels from Interstate 81 through Christiansburg to Blacksburg. The roadway would also serve as a test site for IVHS, or Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems, "smart highway" technology. It was originally proposed that the roadway would be constructed as a four-lane facility on new alignments from I-81, approximately one mile north of its intersections with State Route 641, to the intersections of U.S. Business and Bypass Routes 460. The proposed highway would pass through the Ellett Valley of Montgomery County, Virginia.

In 1994 a citizen's advisory committee was formed to advise VDOT about the environmental and social ramifications of building the new roadway, as well as it's overall design. Issues the committee investigated included how an endangered species, the smooth coneflower, would be affected by the construction of the highway; the impact on the air quality of the Ellett Valley; impact on caves and karsts in the area; the destruction of cemeteries; and the flooding potential in the Roanoake River.