Your Aug. 25 Pre-Trip: Michigan building a smarter highway

Here are five things worth knowing today:

1. The Detroit News details a new “smart” highway in Michigan along a 20-mile stretch of I-96 and I-696. The paper reports that the area will allow vehicles to “talk” with the roadway via sensors and cameras.
2. A local bridge in Massachusetts is proving to be a truck killer. With its 10-foot-6-inch height, drivers who ignore the warnings are repeatedly having the top of their trucks ripped off, says CityLab.
3. Robert Roy, president of Royal Truck & Equipment in Coopersburg, PA, showed off a new self-driving truck concept yesterday that he says will improve safety for highway construction crews. The Associated Press has more.
4. Politico reports that the American Trucking Assns. has already spent $1.1 million on lobbying efforts in 2015 and has now hired a high-powered firm to assist.
5. The city of San Jose, CA, is considering enlisting garbage trucks as an added police force, attaching license plate readers to the vehicles to sniff out crime. Popular Science has more.