A new traffic management system for Interstates 24 and 40 paints a futuristic picture of Nashville embracing its emergence as a tech hub with interstate traffic that runs on data at least as much as it runs on gas.

The new system is the intersection of at least four supplementary yet separate projects: I-24 MOTION, the I-24 Smart Corridor, I-40 Smart Fiber and Congestion Impacts Reduction via CAV-in-the-loop Lagrangian Energy Smoothing — the latter called CIRCLES. The first, a Vanderbilt University venture projected to become fully operational by next summer, commenced installation this summer. Its first users will be the CIRCLES Consortium, a research body jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. The U.S. Department of Transportation, the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration all contribute funding and logistical support to I-24 MOTION.