First There Were Electric Vehicles—Will Electric Roads Be Next?

"Researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) have been awarded a $1.32 million contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) as part of the jointly funded Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) state research program," according to Energy Harvesting Journal.

Its premise is to design and develop a system to harvest energy created by the movement of vehicles along the state's roadways and convert it into low-cost renewable electric power.

(T)he research team will develop piezoelectric sensors that can be placed under asphalt layers. Those sensors will use the energy generated from moving vehicles to power roadside lights, traffic signals, billboards, charging stations for electric cars and roadway monitoring sensors.

The grant funds only the first phase of the project, which will take 18 months. "If the subsequent phases of this project get the go-ahead, the researchers anticipate having a complete, functional harvesting and sensing system ready for implementation within three-and-a-half years."

Piezoelectric sensors and other devices including pneumatic tubes and inductive loops are used for more conventional purposes such as counting traffic according to Highway Performance Monitoring System. [See"Intrusive Data Collection Equipment".]