Washington Transportation Commission Gets A Look At The Highway Of The Future

By Brett Davis | The Center Square, The Center Square Georgia

October 18, 2022

(The Center Square) – Allie Kelly provided the Washington State Transportation Commission with a glimpse of the future of transportation technology with a presentation on “The Ray Highway,” an 18-mile stretch of Interstate 85 in Georgia that serves as a real-time laboratory for innovative green ideas and technologies.

The highway is named after Ray Anderson, founder and chair of Interface Inc., one of the world’s largest manufactures of modular carpet for commercial and residential applications, and a green business pioneer who championed sustainability.

“These are infrastructure projects that demonstrate the convergence between transportation and energy that we are entering into or living through right now,” said Kelly, executive director of the Atlanta-based The Ray company, during Tuesday morning’s virtual meeting of the commission.

The Ray Highway serves as a place where ideas for sustainability can be implemented, including energy generation from solar and wind infrastructure, electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure, vegetative management to restore soils for expanding and enhancing carbon sequestration, wireless on-road charging systems, and electric vehicle charging hubs and stations.

If successful, these ideas can be implemented around the country.

Kelly pointed out this is a two-way street, and that The Ray is learning from other states as well, including Washington.

A team from The Ray recently made a one-week trip to spend time with the Washington State Department of Transportation “to learn about your right of way management techniques related to ground cover and vegetative management, and we are planning to actually export from Washington to Georgia your roadside vegetative management approach, and prove that innovation is a membrane that moves in both directions, and so we actually like to find innovations and innovative best practices from other states and bring them to the test bed in Georgia.”

While The Ray doesn’t have any official agreements with any Washingtons agencies, Kelly noted the organization is working with WSDOT staff to see if its data can be analyzed to determine if Washington highways are suitable for solar infrastructure.

“Understanding how to bring that level of power to the interstate system in a way that is net zero, that focuses on driving down the carbon footprint of the energy itself and the carbon footprint of the transportation activity and connecting that in a very efficient system for solar powered charging is where we see the future going,” Kelly told the commission.

Electrification is a priority for The Ray as well, which is in line with Washington’s move in the same direction.

Gov. Jay Inslee has said that Washington would follow California's lead and ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

“We are electrifying transportation and need to bring clean energy assets more proximate to the interstate and highway system, particularly as we move to electrifying medium- and heavy-duty vehicles,” Kelly said.

She invited Washington officials to consider working more with The Ray.

“If any of these concepts are of interest…there are a number of tools we can bring to the table immediately to assess the rights of way for clean energy and connectivity projects, and also to begin thinking about opportunities for medium- and heavy-duty electrification and where that infrastructure should go,” Kelly said.

Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar was open to the possibility.

“So, give us a shout, and we’ll connect you with our team and see if there are any opportunities to do something together,” he said.

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