The Netherlands trials glow-in-the-dark road

Studio Roosegarde

A stretch of road in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands has been unveiled with glow in the dark markings that the designer says could make street lights a thing of the past.

The paint absorbs light during the day, and illuminates for up to 10 hours at night.

Glow-in-the-dark roads get green light
Many road markings 'barely visible'
 

The trial stems from the work of the Dutch innovator Daan Roosegaarde, whose previous inventions include a dress that becomes see-through when the wearer is aroused.

The Highways Agency has said that it’s watching the trial with interest

The designer has also experimented with dynamic paint on the road that responds to fluctuations in temperature, meaning ice crystal symbols could appear on the road when it’s slippery.

Roosegaarde told the BBC:

"I was completely amazed that we somehow spend billions on the design and R&D of cars but somehow the roads - which actually determine the way our landscape looks - are completely immune to that process.

"The government is shutting down street lights at night to save money, energy is becoming much more important than we could have imagined 50 years ago. This road is about safety and envisaging a more self-sustainable and more interactive world."

However, Professor Pete Thomas of Loughborough University’s Transport Safety Research Centre warns that new technologies need to prove themselves:

"We have some high-visibility markings already on roads in the UK, plus catseye technology etc. So the question is how much better than these is this alternative?

"If we put this technology on all unlit roads that would be a lot of kilometres and it would be a big investment, so if safety improvement is the target then we need hard evidence about how this compares to what we already have and to back up any safety claims.”

The project is currently in its pilot stage; however, the construction company Heijmans has teamed up with Roosegarde and is keen to expand the idea globally later this year. The Highways Agency has said that it’s watching the trial with interest - could we see glow-in-the-dark paint on UK roads soon?

Glow-in-the-dark roads get green light
Many road markings 'barely visible'
Find out how much a used car costs on Auto Trader
On Bing: see pictures of glow-in-the-dark road markings

By Andrew Brady, contributor, MSN Cars