From I fucking love science:
A smart highway that promises to save energy while improving safety was unveiled along a 500-meter stretch in the Netherlands last week. Interactive and self-sustaining, it’s being called the “Route 66 of the future.”
The project is designed and developed by Daan Roosegaarde and Dutch engineering firm Heijmans Infrastructure. Earlier this year, we posted about other Studio Roosegaarde projects: houseplant reading lights and bioluminescent streetlamps. Now, this glow-in-the-dark technology actually exists on the N329 highway in Oss, about 100 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam.
The road markings are made with paint containing photo-luminescent powder that charges in the daytime and then releases a green glow at nighttime. Roosegaarde tells Wired UKthat Heijmans had managed to take its luminescence to the extreme: “It’s almost radioactive.”