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Veterans Skyway Shines for Solar-Powered Traffic Safety

Solar Panels will provide enough power to light the entire bridge. Photo Credit: kevinmarsh

The city of Toledo and the Ohio Department of Transportation (O-DOT) are teaming up to add some solar flare to a prominent highway and bridge in the northern Ohio metropolis. Solar panels will be mounted on stop signs, traffic monitors and message boards to reliably increase traffic safety in this city of over 300,000 people.

The panels will collect solar energy during the day and use it for illuminating busy intersection signs at night, an effort that the city expects to save lives and prevent accidents and traffic delays. On a slightly larger scale, plans are in the works to install solar panels at the Veterans Glass City Skyway bridge in Toledo. The panels will be powerful enough to meet all the bridge's lighting needs.

Solar-powered interchanges and road signs are not new - they're frequent along many interstate highways, especially in remote areas of the Northwest, where weather-specific signage is essential but power lines are scarce.

The state of Oregon also started a "Solar Highways" project, which already has one array of solar panels lining the roadside on Interstate-5 and powering the lights at a nearby interchange. Actual Solar Roadways could be in our future as well...

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