HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — We wondered the same thing.
People have been spotting these tiny boxes on certain traffic signals throughout Hillsborough County.
We reached out to officials and turns out, these little devices actually to improve safety during a power outage.
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County workers are improving more than 300 intersections with these solar-powered emergency beacons. They will help with traffic control during power outages.
The beacons are installed at the mid-point of a traffic signal with a solar panel up top to charge the batteries.
If power were to go out the beacons would flash red or yellow, according to the normal traffic pattern.
The cost is roughly $10,000 at each intersection. There should be 316 intersections with the beacons by the end of 2020.
