Back in 2012 there was a concept created by a Dutch designer that suggested that glow in the dark road markings should be used in place of street lights. The goal is to make the roads more interactive while at the same time help to cut down on the amount of electricity and resources required to maintain street lights, especially on long stretches of a highway.
Well it looks like the concept has stopped being a concept and is now a reality, at least as far as a certain highway stretch in the Netherlands is concerned. At this point in time, one of Netherlands’ highways, the N329 highway in Oss, has replaced its streetlights with glow in the dark road markings that stretch as far as 500m.
The glow in the dark markings are created using a photo-luminescent powder that has been integrated into the road paint and has been painted onto the roads by road construction company, Heijmans. The goal is to eventually add more areas as well as include technology such as weather markings, like snow drops, that would illuminate once it hits a certain temperature.
Unfortunately due to the lack of contracts, expansion of this plan is still on hold. While we admit that this sounds like a really cool idea, there is the question of sustainability. How will the paint hold up to cars driving on them constantly? After all patchy pieces of glow in the dark markings aren’t exactly safe, nor are they as efficient as evenly lit streets, but either way it is a good start. What do you guys think?
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