Holland will have smart roads that will glow in the dark

Since mid 2013, roads in the Netherlands will be smart. The Smart Highway project (smart highway) developed by the designer Daan Roosegaarde with the support of the company Heijmans plans to build highways equipped with interactive lighting and an indication of weather conditions.

A unique and different intelligent highway design project will be launched in the Netherlands in the middle of next year, offering new roads that shine on the asphalt with indicator lights that turn on and off as vehicles pass.. “One day I was sitting in my car and I was amazed at these roads that cost millions and no one seems to care how they look or how they behave.. I started to imagine a route 66 of the future where technology jumps off the computer screen and becomes part of us”, explained designer Daan Roosegaarde, ‘padre’ of the concept. With this idea, he presented the Smart Highway project in the Dutch Best Future Concept competition, winning it and turning the concept into a reality in a few months.. A project where Roosegaarde's studio will replace road markings with technology that uses sunlight to then shine in the darkness of the night.

First of all, The marks on the surface are replaced by a kind of phosphorescent powder that is “recharged” by sunlight, and lights up the road at nightfall. The charge available for this powder translates into an autonomy of ten hours, a time that in theory should be enough to “illuminate” the path of any driver throughout the night. The operation is similar to what we have seen in toys and other objects., with the difference that the effect will be more powerful. The surface will also be covered with a special paint, that activates according to temperature. If the weather becomes much colder and the surface becomes slippery, “snowflakes” appear indicating this state (similar to the indicators that some food containers and beer cans have, to know if the temperature is appropriate).

The province of Brabant will be the first to install the first hundreds of meters of light in the dark in the middle of the 2013. They will then move on to a second phase where a road dedicated exclusively to electric cars will be implemented., that will receive energy through induction coils, interactive lights that light up as vehicles pass by and finally wind-powered lights in a project that will last the next five years.