On a 500 metre stretch of highway in the Netherlands, streetlights have been replaced with glow-in-the-dark paint.
The glow-in-the-dark markings are created by mixing a photo-luminescent powder into the road paint. The paint charges by absorbing daylight, and stays lit for about eight hours during the night.
As the inventor Dan Roosegaarde explains to Wired UK, "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. Now, it's almost radioactive."
The paint was developed in conjunction with Heijmans, a road construction company. Specifically, the luminous road is found on the N329 highway in the city of Oss.
Should this test project prove successful, imagine the savings this could net for a city, using this paint as opposed to installing, powering, and maintaining those massive lights that run along most highways.
Whether that will happen depends on the proverbial government red tape, which proved to be the largest obstacle to the studio seeing its invention come to life. In fact, the studio said that despite being ready for a while, the project was held up because of a delay in a licences application approval from the local government.
Mr. Roosegaarde envisions future uses for the paint, such as when outside temperatures reach a certain low point, snowflake symbols would appear on the road, reminding drivers that the road is slippery.
Until then, the paint is currently being tested to determine wear and tear, as well as effectiveness.
The glow-in-the-dark markings are created by mixing a photo-luminescent powder into the road paint. The paint charges by absorbing daylight, and stays lit for about eight hours during the night.
As the inventor Dan Roosegaarde explains to Wired UK, "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. Now, it's almost radioactive."
The paint was developed in conjunction with Heijmans, a road construction company. Specifically, the luminous road is found on the N329 highway in the city of Oss.
Should this test project prove successful, imagine the savings this could net for a city, using this paint as opposed to installing, powering, and maintaining those massive lights that run along most highways.
Whether that will happen depends on the proverbial government red tape, which proved to be the largest obstacle to the studio seeing its invention come to life. In fact, the studio said that despite being ready for a while, the project was held up because of a delay in a licences application approval from the local government.
Mr. Roosegaarde envisions future uses for the paint, such as when outside temperatures reach a certain low point, snowflake symbols would appear on the road, reminding drivers that the road is slippery.
Until then, the paint is currently being tested to determine wear and tear, as well as effectiveness.
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