First Smart Highway goes live

Daan Roosegaarde’s much-anticipated Smart Highway has been built on a stretch of the R329 in Oss, the Netherlands.

The road of the future is here. After several years of research and development, Daan Roosegaarde’s first glow-in-the-dark Smart Highway has been realised in the city of Oss, the Netherlands.

The Smart Highway project as a whole makes use of interactive lights, smart energy and adaptable road signs for the world’s first and most sustainable, safe and intuitive road.

Working in collaboration with Heijmans Infrastructure, Roosegaarde introduced “intuitive” innovations that recognise and respond to changes in temperature and light. The roads make use of glow-in-the-dark markings applied to the surface with special foto-luminising powder. During sunlight hours, the paint is charged and lights up the road at night for up to ten hours. The project also uses symbols in a dynamic paint that responds to fluctuations in temperature. When it is freezing cold, illuminating ice crystals appear on the surface to warn motorists of slippery and wet conditions.  

The goal is to make roads that are more sustainable and interactive by using light, energy and road signs that automatically adapt to the traffic, environment and people, says Roosegaarde.

The second Smart Highway will soon be implemented on the iconic 32km Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands. Roosegaarde is also in the process of developing these smart roads for areas in China and Japan.

We first featured Smart Highway in January 2013. 

Watch the Talk with Daan Roosegaarde