The Netherlands to introduce glow-in-the-dark roads

Date: 10/1/2013

Scientists in the Netherlands have developed a 'Smart Highway', which glows in the dark and warns drivers if conditions are icy.

The innovative new road is expected to debut in the country in the middle of this year and uses photoluminescent paint.

This type of paint is charged by daylight and then glows at night for periods of up to ten hours, minimising the need for street lights.

Dutch companies Studio Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure, which created the design, believe that it could be a cheaper and more environmentally friendly system.

Temperature-sensitive paint is also applied to the road, showing large ice crystal patterns when it drops below zero, in order to warn motorists that conditions are slippery.

Roosegaarde told Wired: "It’s like the glow-in-the-dark paint you and I had when we were children, but we teamed up with a paint manufacturer and pushed the development."

The designers have a number of other ideas for road infrastructure which is more efficient, including road lights which light up as cars pass by and then dim when there is no traffic around.

Also suggested are lights attached to pinwheel generators at the side of the road, powered by the draft produced as cars pass, and 'induction priority lanes' that charge electric vehicles as they drive over coils buried beneath the road's surface.

With more than 20 cost-efficient ways to illuminate roads, Roosegaarde and Heijmans have received inquiries into their products from all over the world.

India is particularly keen to put such infrastructure in place, as the country suffers from widespread power outages, plunging everywhere, including the roads, into darkness.

Emina Sendijarevic of Studio Roosegaarde said: "Research on smart transportation systems and smart roads has existed for over 30 years.

"What’s lacking is the implementation of those innovations and making those innovations intuitive and valuable to drivers. Heijmans and Roosegaarde are not going to wait any longer for innovations to find their way through the political system, but will start building this highway now."

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News