The Ray, a 16-mile test run for the roadway of the future, is off to a great start Memorial roadways offer respectful tributes to famous citizens and civic leaders. But on a 16-mile stretch of Interstate 85 in southwestern Georgia, renamed the Ray C. Anderson Memorial Highway, the asphalt isn?t just a reminder. It?s a living laboratory helping advance the ideas of an industrial and environmental pioneer.
This out-of-the-way section of interstate, now known as The Ray, offers a vision of how highways could look and function in the future. Drivers crossing the border from Alabama will see photovoltaic arrays rising above a rest stop, part of a sustainable electric vehicle charging station. Solar paving material underfoot, developed by a French company called Colas, has turned a small section of the visitor?s center into a testing ground for solar roadway technology. In the next few years, the addition of solar panels, sustainable landscaping, and Internet of Things technology will make this a smart, sustainable?and most important to its backers, revenue-generating?road to a greener future.
The Ray
Rendering of what the proposed solar array would look like built into the Ray

Highways have never been the sexiest infrastructure projects, but Allie Kelly, the executive director of The Ray, believes that preconception will shift dramatically over the next few years due to rapid technological shifts. With politicians in Washington discussing th...