You can get your kicks on Route 66. But soon, you might get your energy there too. Missouri is rolling out a set of energy-generating photovoltaic pavers along a section of the famous highway—the first such panels on a public right of way in the U.S. The street pavers were developed by Solar Roadways, a company created by inventors Scott and Julie Brusaw which raised more than $2.2 million in crowdfunding in 2014 to bring their technology to market. The Brusaws claim that replacing all of America’s roads and parking lots with their solar pavers would generate more than three times the country’s electricity consumption in 2009. Missouri’s transportation department is set to launch their own crowdfunding campaign to support their energy experiment, and expects the hexagonal solar panels to be fully installed and operational by the end of the year.
Route 66, one of Missouri’s oldest and most famous roads, may soon be its first to go solar as the America state transport department is hoping to add photovoltaic solar pavers to a section of the road this year. Interestingly, the state government will turn to crowdfunding to fund the project. The announcement is part of America’s Road to Tomorrow Initiative, which aims to integrate modern technology into the state’s transportation system (other plans include 'truck platooning', which connects commercial vehicles through wireless technology, allowing them to follow one another at close distances for better fuel economy through wind resistance).