On May 17, a handful of students, school administrators, police officers and San Jose city officials gathered in front of Westmont High School to officially unveil a state-of-the-art solar-powered crosswalk system.

"Traffic safety at this school has been an important issue for some time," said San Jose City Councilwoman Linda LeZotte. "About five years ago, a student was killed in an accident while crossing this street. And there've been several near misses."

So the city and high school got together to come up with a plan to save lives. And in doing so, they installed the first-ever crosswalk system of its kind in San Jose.

This system is different from others because there are no wires involved, said Henry Servin, a senior engineer with the city of San Jose.

Three poles are involved—one on each sidewalk and one in the middle of the road. Electricity is produced through solar panels on each pole. Each pole has a yellow light affixed to it that flashes when pedestrians push the crosswalk buttons. A signal is then sent wirelessly to flash all the lights simultaneously.

This method eliminates the need to tear up the concrete for the installation of underground wires, he said. So the cost of the system was significantly less than that of a traditional traffic-light system, which can cost 10 times as much.

Including sidewalk modifications to allow wheelchair access, the whole project cost about $25,000, Servin said. And this system takes only four to five days to install, compared with the traditional four to five weeks.

Westmont High School Principal Bob Serpa was pleased with the new equipment. For years he's been discussing plans with San Jose and Campbell to implement measures for alleviating traffic in front of his school.

"I'm delighted it's finally come to fruition," he said. "Sometimes we work through the system and everything we do comes to naught."