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First Glow-In-the-Dark Road Debuts In Netherlands

Posted by samzenpus on from the shine-on dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A 500 meter (0.3 mile) stretch of road in the Netherlands has opened without the standard crop of streetlights lining its perimeter. The streetlights are believed to be unnecessary since the road markings were painted on with a mix of photo-luminescent powder, which absorbs sunlight during the day and radiates a portion of that energy back at night. Whether the modified road paint can withstand harsh weather or even provide sufficient lighting given insufficient exposure to sunlight during the day remains to be seen. The project was orchestrated by Studio Roosegaarde, which in the future plans to implement weather-sensitive road markings that would inform drivers when outside temperatures drop or rise above certain levels."

6 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Useless by PPH · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We already have retroreflective paints. Road markings and signs illuminated by headlights are clearly visible. On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night. Streetlights are OK, but headlights are better. An animal or other obstruction will only appear as a shadow against a glowing roadway.

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    1. Re:Useless by Travis+Mansbridge · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, but today we are talking about driving.

    2. Re:Useless by physicsphairy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe it's not the best for inner city roads, but on long highway stretches it would be awfully nice to be able to see the road far ahead. Especially on road with hills and curves, headlights do a fairly bad job of lighting up that reflective paint (other than what's immediately ahead) because often your car is not oriented so as to illuminate it.

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      When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
    3. Re:Useless by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This paint isn't retroreflective, it actually emits light. Good to see the road layout as it enters a bend from some distance away, and the exit to the bend where you headlights aren't pointing.

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      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
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    4. Re:Useless by mjr167 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not sure what this obsession with street lights is... We don't have street lights where I live and it's nice. We somehow manage to not run over children and animals, though the deer do occasionally hit cars. Stupid deer dashing out of the woods and running into cars... (cars never hit deer, the deer always hits the car).

      As a result we can look up and see the sky at night and we don't have street lights shining into our houses in the middle of the night.

  2. Re:Useless for Electricity shills by DarwinSurvivor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All the "pictures" in TFA are computer renderings. For a road that, apparently, has already been painted you'd think they could have taken at least 1 photo of it.