SANDPOINT — The sidewalk at Jeff Jones Town Square is being demolished.

City crews began work this week in preparation for the Solar Roadways project going in at the square. City administrator Jennifer Stapleton said the preparation work should be finished this week.

"Then it's a matter of Solar Roadways getting in all of their parts, making sure all of the testing is complete," Stapleton said. "We are still anticipating the installation of the actual panels and an unveiling on that in early September."

This project will include solar panels along the walkway that have temperature sensors and the ability to melt snow. They will also feed back into the grid and offset energy usage by the city of Sandpoint, which draws from metered power in the area. It will also power the pump for the fountain in the square.

A webcam will be set up, allowing people to go to the city's website to see the panels at any time. The website will also allow people to see the fluctuation in energy the panels generate and use.

The city's fiber optic Internet will be hooked to the webcam, and Stapleton said they hope to include free Wi-Fi for the public in the future.

"We are pretty excited about it," Stapleton said. "It's the first demonstration of Solar Roadways ever."

She said the owners of Solar Roadways have two more projects lined up after the one in Sandpoint, but are committed to having the first one in their hometown. Working out the logistics with utilities and the parks department have been time consuming, but Stapleton is confident the project will move smoothly now that the preparation and construction is underway.

"It's been a fair amount of logistics to work through, not to mention the logistics of just the public interest in this project," Stapleton said, adding that she has been contacted by several national media outlets in the last month. "In my mind it's one of the most underestimated aspects of this project is just how much worldwide public interest there is in Solar Roadways as a company and their product as an evolution in the industry of sustainability."