Construction continues on the Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg, Va. on Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. The city has entered into a partnership with the Center for Innovative Technology to embed smart technology into the design.
Mike Morones
When Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg is complete, visitors won’t have to use their mobile data to access the internet.
The city has partnered with the Center for Innovative Technology to create a “smart” Riverfront Park.
The park will be located on Sophia Street in the downtown area. It is currently under construction and expected to be completed next summer.
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It will include open space, event space and a play area with a view of the Rappahannock River.
Now that the city has received a $75,000 grant from CIT, the park will also feature Wi-Fi and security cameras in the first phase of implementation of “smart” technology. In the future, there’s also the possibility of a digital information kiosk, a public performance stage, environmental sensors for air quality and river flooding and potentially sensors for parking availability and crowd counts.
“In 2018, City Council directed staff in their Priority No. 8 to build Riverfront Park after more than a decade of work,” City Manager Tim Baroody said. “To deliver other council priorities at the same time, we have been very focused on embedding ‘Smart Communities’ thinking within our design and construction—with success.”
David Ihrie, CIT’s chief technology officer, said the partnership with Fredericksburg is part of the company’s approach of “community-driven innovation.” He noted that the city invited CIT to collaborate early on in the process of building the park to ensure the infrastructure allowed for future growth.
