TAMPA, Fla. — This one-of-a-kind solar sidewalk keeps the lights on all the time at the corner of East Cass Street and North Jefferson Street.
If the power goes out during a storm, this intersection will operate as normal because the traffic lights are powered by solar energy coming from the sidewalk.
The solar sidewalk is made up of 84 solar panels and produces about 75% of the power needed to keep the lights on at this intersection.
Brandon Cambell is the Smart Mobility Manager with the City of Tampa.
"We were looking for ways to provide a resilient power generation system that would not require us to actively respond to it in the event that we had an outage of between eight hours and three days," Cambell said.
Between the solar power and the battery bank, the lights will stay on for several days during a power outage.
The idea was implemented after Hurricane Ian. The solar-powered intersection was appreciated during the storm when the City of Tampa lost power at 71 intersections.
"Anytime you have a dark signal, it is a pretty dangerous condition," Cambell said
Terrel Simmons lives around the corner from the solar sidewalk. He said he appreciated that these traffic lights stayed on when other intersections went dark in the city.
Cambell said they do not have plans in place for more solar sidewalks, but the city will use this project as an example when they apply for sustainability grants in the future.
