America's iconic Route 66 is about to become part of a new solar system.
The Idaho startup Solar Roadways, created by husband-and-wife team Scott and Julie Brusaw, is working with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to install a section of solar panels at a rest stop on Rt. 66 in Conway, MO. The aim is to see if the roadway can generate enough electricity to power the rest facility and potentially fund future projects.
"Solar roadways can hopefully create new revenue streams," said Tom Blair, assistant district engineer for MoDOT and head of the "Road to Tomorrow" long-range planning effort, local Missouri paper The News Tribune reports. "Technology already has changed how we think about different things in our lives," he said, "and it is going to disrupt everything that every one of us transportation leaders have experienced to date in our life."
