Seen these solar-powered posts in Georgia among I-85 wildflowers? Here’s what they do

Caption

This six-foot tall environmental sensor, the PheNode, stands just above the wildflowers in one of the Landscape Labs found on The Ray Highway.

Credit: The Ray

There’s an 18-mile stretch of I-85 in west Georgia that serves as a testing ground for a number of sustainable transportation technologies.

If you look out your window at the right time, you might spot a wildflower meadow with a skinny six-foot aluminum tower standing tall amidst the flowers.

The Ray C. Anderson Memorial Highway runs from LaGrange to the Alabama border, and has been the site of 13 projects over nine years, focusing on safer highways, transportation infrastructure advancement and interstate pollution reduction and remediation, according to Allie Kelly, executive director of The Ray.

The Ray is a nonprofit created by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation based in Georgia that facilitates projects on the highway, among other nationwide sustainable transportation work.

One of those 13 projects is what The Ray calls their Landscape Lab, and just last year, the PheNode was incorporated in the project, too.

The PheNode is a scalable, environmental sensor platform with temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind, light, air quality and soil sensors. It’s solar-powered and has GPS and wireless connectivity capabilities, too, according to Agrela Ecosystems, the developer of the tool.

At the Landscape Labs located at Exits 6, 14 and at the Georgia Visitor Information Center, perennial wildflowers, grasses and other groundcover species have been planted to attract pollinators, combat erosion, support biodiversity and provide considerable carbon offset benefits, according to The Ray’s website.

With the PheNode in the mix, The Ray and Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) can continuously monitor and collect data on the overall health of the Labs by detecting environmental changes that may signal potential disruptions in the ecosystem.

Exit 6 was the original site for the Landscape Lab, where The Ray worked with the University of Georgia and GDOT to use different seed mixes for roadside planting, according to Josh Weaver, the Natural Capital program manager.

“These plants are highly attractive to pollinating insects, which are critical to our food supply and foundational to Georgia’s Agricultural industry,” according to their website. “Miles of right-of-way wildflowers could also provide considerable carbon offset benefits, not only through reduced need for mowing but also by locking carbon in the soil through their roots.”

Exit 14 is the slope stabilization site, which is an ongoing project to develop a system that would prevent further slope erosion, according to Weaver. The slope was graded by GDOT and seeded by The Ray and is now thriving with very little maintenance required.

The Visitor Information Center is the original pollinator meadow site, which was installed eight years ago by The Ray and volunteers from KIA, according to Weaver. This location and Exit 14 are only mowed once a year.

All three sites are equipped with PheNode, according to Weaver.

The wildflowers “offer a range of ecosystem services” in comparison to traditional grass roadsides and medians, according to The Ray’s website.

The Ray’s Natural Capital program secured a partnership with Agrela Ecosystems, GDOT and the Danforth Institute in 2024 for a multi-year soil health and pollution remediation project at Exit 6 and expanded their environmental monitoring system, PheNode, according to Dallen McLemore, communications specialist for The Ray.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with the Macon Telegraph.