Netherlands welcomes home glowing highways in place of streetlights

Whoever said streetlights are an indispensable means to road safety probably should have a look at what the folks over in Netherlands are up to. Instead of using electricity-hungry street lights, the Smart Highway project makes use of photo-luminescent stripes that glow in the dark, guiding drivers. The stripes soak in sunlight during the day and glow during the night. Design firm Studio Roosegaarde has been testing this concept that seems to be quite practical, so long as drivers keep their headlights on too.

“The reaction has been great,” says Daan Roosegaarde, the studio’s founder. “We even had a local traffic jam because people wanted to see it.” With this, city authorities will no longer need to pay hefty electricity bills to keep roads lit up, particularly longer stretches like highways where pedestrian traffic is nil.

[Via – Fastcoexist]