Urban infrastructure has long struggled to keep pace with the dynamic demands of modern cities. Traditional pavements, though durable, are static systems unable to respond to changing environmental or mobility conditions. As cities face rising traffic congestion, climate-induced flooding, and the need for better resource efficiency, this rigidity becomes a critical weakness. Programmable smart pavement addresses this challenge by transforming the road surface into an adaptive, data-driven system capable of responding in real time to urban pressures.
At its core, programmable smart pavement combines advanced materials with embedded sensors, actuators, and microprocessors. The technology integrates responsive composites, such as piezoelectric or phase-change materials, with networked electronics that monitor variables like temperature, moisture, load, and vibration. These surfaces can alter their properties according to the data they receive: for example, increasing permeability during heavy rainfall to reduce surface flooding, or adjusting surface friction in icy conditions to improve vehicle safety. In some prototypes, the pavement also generates energy from mechanical stress, turning roadways into decentralised power sources.
Beyond adaptability, this intelligent surface serves as an urban sensing network. Its embedded systems continuously collect data on traffic flow, air quality, and infrastructure stress, feeding into broader smart-city management platforms. Such integration enables predictive maintenance and optimises city operations like lighting, traffic signals, and emergency routing.
For future cities, programmable smart pavement represents a shift from passive infrastructure to active urban intelligence. It embodies a model of streets not merely as conduits for movement but as responsive public systems, dynamically aligned with environmental and social needs. As urban areas grow denser and more climate-vulnerable, the convergence of materials science, sensing, and computation in the very ground beneath us could redefine how cities adapt, communicate, and sustain themselves.
United States · Startup
Develops Smart Pavement™, a precast concrete system with embedded digital technology, sensors, and connectivity for smart city infrastructure.
Transport infrastructure construction group, developer of 'Flowell' dynamic road marking.
Provides wireless charging solutions for electric vehicles (EVs) through dynamic in-road inductive technology.
United Kingdom · Startup
Creates flooring technology that converts the kinetic energy of footsteps into electricity and data.
France · Company
A subsidiary of VINCI Construction that developed 'Power Road', a road surface that captures thermal energy.
Hungary · Startup
Develops solar pavement blocks made from recycled plastic that can be installed in sidewalks, driveways, and plazas.
Offers a traffic management platform powered by IoT sensors installed in road studs (smart cat's eyes).
United States · Company
Clean tech company providing smart streetlights and kinetic energy tiles for pedestrian areas.
Home to the Manfra Group, which grows the ultra-pure semiconductor nanowires needed for topological qubits.
Automotive supplier researching road condition monitoring via tire sensors (eTIS) and smart infrastructure interaction.
Paper
Learning road degradation with asphalt-integrated sensor fabricInnovative Infrastructure Solutions · Dec 5, 2025
Describes a data-driven approach using a hybrid sensor fabric integrated directly into the asphalt base layer. Artificial Intelligence methods are applied to sensor measurements to diagnose the degradation state of the road continuously.
Paper
Real-time concrete strength monitoring using piezoelectric sensors and deep learningNature Communications · Dec 12, 2025
Integrates artificial intelligence with infrastructure sensing using piezoelectric sensors to monitor concrete strength in real-time. The study demonstrates a transformative approach to redefining concrete structures as active sensing systems.
Article
Smart Pavement for Smart CitiesNational Precast Concrete Association · Jun 10, 2025
Discusses the deployment of Integrated Roadways' patented Smart Pavement system, which embeds technology in precast slabs for Wi-Fi, EV charging, and traffic data collection. Mentions upcoming installations in Lenexa, Kansas.
Article
Smart Road Pilot Project Gets Green Lightswcpa.org
The City of Lenexa, Kansas, population 57,000, has approved a 10-year pilot program to deploy Smart Pavement technology at five intersections in a public-private partnership with Integrated Roadways. The project involves deploying smart pavement technology through precast concrete road sections embedded with digital technology and fiber optic connectivity.
Article
Farewell potholes? UK team invents self-healing road surfacetheguardian.com
Researcher at Swansea University says tiny plant spores mixed into bitumen can extend surface lifespan by 30%
Article
Ultra-High Power Density Roadway Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Systemenergy.ca.gov
Advanced piezoelectric technologies can generate electricity from otherwise untapped mechanical energy resources. Piezoelectric technologies provide the opportunity to harvest energy where stress or vibration is generated and have the advantages of highpower density, simplicity, and scalability for a variety of applications. Heavy traffic of ground vehicles and pedestrians on highways, streets, and sidewalks provides considerable mechanical energy. Harvesting this energy can increase distributed renewable energy capacity. However, there is a lack of the comprehensive understanding of piezoelectric energy harvesting systems and their potential. This project takes an integrated multi-disciplinary approach involving mechanical, electrical, engineering, civil, and automobile engineering, material science, and physics to develop technologies for harvesting high-density piezoelectric energy.
Article
Application of fully permeable pavements as a sustainable approach for mitigation of stormwater runoffsciencedirect.com
The current research paper presents the implementation of a new design method for fully permeable pavements, developed using the mechanistic-empirical approach by the University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC) through building two test sections which includes asphalt and concrete at California State University Long Beach (CSULB). Fully permeable pavements are characterized as that in which all layers are permeable, and the pavement structure serves as a reservoir to store water and minimize the negative impacts of stormwater. Pressure cells and strain gages were installed during the construction of pavement for measuring the stress on the top of subgrade and strain at the bottom of surface layer on both test sections to evaluate the performance of the fully permeable pavement. In this study, the traffic count was also determined. The collected data from pressure cells and strain gages were analysed using MATLAB program and graphs were plotted to study the pattern in the data sets. The plots revealed that the asphalt section experienced more stress and strain in comparison to concrete test section. Both the test sections showed reliable performance in terms of distresses. Though the year 2017 was considered to be one of the wettest in California, both test sections performed well in infiltrating the stormwater. The collected data is being used to evaluate the performance of both test sections. Based on the performance evaluation results, it was determined that it is possible to develop and implement the fully permeable pavement design as part of a sustainable approach for freeways.
Article
Smart embedded technologies and materials for enhanced pavement managementsciencedirect.com
The integration of smart technologies is set to revolutionize pavement data collection and analysis, leading to more efficient decision-making in Pavement Management Systems (PMS). Smart pavements, featuring embedded sensors, offer continuous streams of high-quality real-time data, enhancing the PMS data analysis process. This paper provides a detailed examination of these embedded smart systems, discussing their technologies, applications, and potential impacts on pavement management. The study highlights the role of smart materials in pavement engineering, offering self-sensing, self-healing, and energy-harvesting capabilities. It investigates sensor technologies for monitoring pavement conditions, focusing on both on-surface and below-surface sensors for comprehensive data collection. Future research directions emphasize advanced data management systems, sensor durability enhancement, economic modeling, standardization efforts, energy-efficient technologies, and pilot programs for real-world testing. This research provides insights into smart pavement advancements and challenges, paving the way for improved road infrastructure efficiency and sustainability.
Article
Analysis of Preparation and Properties on Shape Memory Hydrogenated Epoxy Resin Used for Asphalt Mixturesmdpi.com
The objective of this investigation is to prepare the shape memory hydrogenated epoxy resin used for asphalt mixtures (SM-HEP-AM) and study its properties. The shape memory hydrogenated epoxy resin (SM-HEP) is prepared using hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin (AL-3040), polypropylene glycol diglycidylether diacrylate (JH-230), and isophorone diamine (IPDA). The formulations of the SM-HEP-AM are obtained by the linearly fitted method. The thermo-mechanical property, molecular structure, and shape-memory performance of the SM-HEP-AM are studied. The glass-transition temperature (Tg) is determined using the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The results proved that the Tg level increased when the JH-230 content decreased. The thermo-mechanical property of the SM-HEP-AM is measured by dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA). The storage modulus of the SM-HEP-AM decreased with the increase in the JH-230 content. The above phenomena are attributed to the change in the JH-230 content. The shape memory performance results of the SM-HEP-AM indicate that specimen deformation can completely recover after only several minutes at Tg + 10 °C and Tg + 20 °C. The shape recovery time of the SM-HEP-AM increases with increased JH-230 content, and the change between the shape recovery time and JH-230 content gradually decreased as the temperature increased. The deformation recovery performance of asphalt mixture with and without the SM-HEP-AM (Tg = 40 °C) was tested by the deformation recovery test. This was used to prove that the SM-HEP-AM helps to improve the deformation recovery performance of the asphalt mixture.
Article
PAVEMENT SENSING SYSTEMS : LITERATURE REVIEWsciendo-parsed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com
In situ monitoring of pavement health has been getting much attention due to the efficiency, reliability and accuracy of data. This review consists of various embedded as well as nondestructive sensing options that have been used to perform analysis on pavement health either by simply calculating horizontal and vertical strains under pavement layers or by crack detection models inside pavement structures by supplementing information from moisture, temperature and traffic related sensors. With optimum integration of such combination sensors, engineers can predict the optimum rehabilitation time of the pavements and reduce a huge amount of budget spent on infrastructure reconstruction.
Article
Integrated Roadways Awarded Key Colorado “Smart Highway” Projectccdmag.com
Integrated Roadways Awarded Key Colorado “Smart Highway” Project Utilizing Patented “Smart Pavement” Technology. Integrated Roadways, a technology startup from Kansas City, Missouri, is revolutionizing America’s highway system beginning with a key partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) under their RoadX initiative to use next-generation innovations to solve infrastructure challenges.
Article
Colorado pilots ‘smart pavement’ that can track vehicle location, make and modelstatescoop.com
Through an experimental .75 million project with the transportation department, the company says it intends to turn the state's roadways into connected digital platforms.
Article
Permeable pavement could help cities be more resilient to floodingurban.uw.edu
Pilot projects are being developed across Quebec to make parking lots, bike paths or portions of streets more resilient to climate change.
