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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."

17 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. waitwhat by Johann+Lau · · Score: 5, Funny

    I started imagining this Route 66 of the future where technology jumps out of the computer screen and becomes part of us.

    You took too much, man...

  2. 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.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Useless by Travis+Mansbridge · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, but today we are talking about driving.

    2. Re:Useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well , just paint the animals with reflective color, too. How hard is that ? C'mon man, some common sense.

    3. 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.

      --
      When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
    4. Re:Useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Idiot. You'll have to repaint them every time they moult or breed.

      Genetically engineer them to glow in the dark and they'll reproduce themselves.

    5. Re:Useless by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Meh, I driven down thousands of kilometres of unlighted roadway, even unpaved roads, dodging roos and wombats like most Europeans would dodge rabbits. Simply adjust road speed to conditions. Road side illumination should be generally restricted to built up areas and be more about restricting nefarious activities rather than traffic safety.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re:Useless by Woek · · Score: 4, Informative
      First, this allows you to see how the road curves very far ahead, and without using the high beams. It works much better then reflective paint.

      Second, this is not painted on the road, it is a special strip that is embedded in the road surface. They can also send a tiny bit of current through it to intensify the glow, which is especially useful in winters. It essentially cuts the energy requirement with a factor of a few million (a number which I just made up).

      Disclaimer: I live in the Netherlands

    7. 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.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Video of the road by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just found a video on dutch TV
    http://nos.nl/video/634091-eerste-autoweg-met-glowing-lines.html

  5. video of the road by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    there is a video of the road on dutch television. video of the road
    It does look quite nice!

  6. Re:wile e. coyote will love this by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thisis The Netherlands... I don't think they have rock faces. Or hills. Or topology generally.

  7. Re:Useless for Electricity shills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Dutch article (http://nos.nl/audio/634119-het-lijkt-alsof-je-door-een-sprookjesbos-rijdt.html) has a low-res picture of it. The thing looks like a video, but is actually an audio fragment, but the picture is an actual picture of the 500m stretch of road.

  8. Stealth Mode? by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

    Not if you have headlights on, are you supposed to turn them off when you hit this stretch of road? And park for about fifteen minutes to dark adapt?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  9. Re:Useless for Electricity shills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bk4mNfMIEAAkefo.jpg

    I don't think it's actually in use yet. It's still being set up.