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http://www.curbed.com/2017/2/6/14521102/highway-the-ray-solar-power-transportation From the article:
Highways have never been the sexiest infrastructure projects, but Allie Kelly, the executive director of The Ray, believes that preconception will shift dramatically over the next few years due to rapid technological shifts. With politicians in Washington discussing the administration's ambitious infrastructure plans, now is the time to make investments in our transportation system. As far as Kelly is concerned, that vision should focus on achieving zero deaths, zero carbon, and zero waste. She hopes The Ray can serve as the laboratory where new ideas and revenue models are tried, tested, and proven possible.
"We're at a tipping point in transportation," says Kelly. "In five to ten years, we won't remember a time when we invested a dime in infrastructure spending for a road that only did one thing."
[...] Initially, the vision for The Ray was to add a solar installation in the median, along with a wildflower garden, to remind drivers about the environmental costs of the transportation system. But the results of the study suggested a more dramatic plan was needed. Since then, The Ray, in concert with the Georgia Department of Transportation, has slowly rolled out a number of new initiatives to improve both safety and sustainability. In 2015, a new electric charging station powered in part by photovoltaic panels, a joint project with funding from Kia Motors, became the first in the state.
This past year, the Ray added a strip of Wattway solar panels to an entrance ramp, and installed a WheelWright tire pressure sensor at a rest stop right next to the Alabama state line. The new British device helps drivers quickly test and maintain proper tire pressure, a leading cause of crashes.
Over the next year, the foundation plans to add more new tests that will help build out a more holistic roadway. A one megawatt solar installation will be installed in a right-of-way as part of a joint effort with Georgia Power to turn the highway into a place for power generation, and a series of bioswales—landscaped drainage ditches that naturally filter pollution—will turn the areas adjacent to the highway into more clean, sustainable, and natural landscapes.
"We're pushing the idea that these kind of installations can become widespread energy generation system for state departments of transportation," says Kelly. "Highways can eventually make money, and even serve as a power grid for the future."
Previous stories on solar roads and pathways:
Solar Generating Roads
SolaRoad Cycle Path Electricity Yield Exceeds Expectations
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 07 2017, @04:15PM
It does indeed vary state-by-state: Many states are 0.08, but some go for 0.10.
It is definitely true that distance is part of the reason for higher drunk-driving numbers in the US, but it's also because Americans are unusually unwilling to walk places. So even if the local pub is 10 minutes walk, well within stumbling distance, they'll still drive there under the mistaken impression that they're safer due to being in a car.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @05:54PM
Thats not necessarily true.
The last place I lived I did not walk. Nothing was convenient, and even when someone tried to open a new store or bar the neighbors would complain and the permit would get denied. The public transport was a joke. I checked one time into taking the bus to work to save on driving. It would have turned my 30-45 minuets of driving every day into 4 to 5 hours taking multiple buses and transfers. In fact the route I would have to take went in the opposite way to where I wanted to go just to transfer at the one transfer station down town. I looked into riding a bike, but even though we had some decent bike trails the most dangerous part of the trip I would have had to ride down a highway that was known to be dangerous for bikers.
I was transferred to a new city. I live 5 minutes walk from a grocery store, handful of restaurants, barber shop, liquor store, bar. If I am willing to walk another 10 minutes I have a super target, a lowes, two different health food stores, a toys r us, about 20 places to eat. To top it all off I can ride my bike to work on bike lanes in about 20 minutes, at no time having to merge with vehicle traffic. At this point I walk somewhere at least a couple times a week depending on weather. During the nicer months its more then that.
We need to start ignoring the very vocal minority nimbyists. Dur I dont want the traffic, dur I dont want the noise, dur my kids will have to cross a busier street, dur we shouldnt have bars in neighborhoods and need standoffs of a quarter mile to make sure no one sells booze near my home. Then on top of it, dur we shouldn't have to pay taxes that support public transportation. Dur what do you mean it would only cost the average citizen a total of $8 dollars a year in taxes.
It isnt all lazy aholes, its whiny aholes in at least equal proportion.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 07 2017, @10:10PM
A lot of the anti-public transit sentiment, at least near where I live, is about keeping those people away from the neighborhood. The thinking is, basically, that if you prevent a bus route from going somewhere, then you prevent a certain segment of the population from going somewhere, which contains the threat to places they're allowed to go.
(I'm not saying I agree with any of this, but it's definitely part of the thinking.)
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.