Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Phosphorescent Bicycle Path Built in Poland

posted by martyb on Sunday October 09 2016, @10:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the bright-idea dept.

butthurt writes:

TechCrunch reports on a new bicycle path built in the Polish city of Pruszków. The surface of the path is phosphorescent: after a sunny day, it will glow through the nightime.

According to BBC News, there was a similar project in the Netherlands in 2014: phosphorescent paint was applied to 500 m (547 yards) of a highway. The hope was that the markings could replace electric lights.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Phosphorescent Bicycle Path Built in Poland | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 13 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday October 09 2016, @04:40PM

    by Francis (5544) on Sunday October 09 2016, @04:40PM (#412103)

    Light is already going upwards, it just generally bounces off the path. If we're concerned with light pollution, it would probably make sense to use less intense lights more frequently and try to keep the blacktop regularly replaced so that it absorbs as much of the light as possible. And in that respect, this is likely to help a lot as you'll have smaller, weaker light sources all along the road.

    In terms of something like this, it is being directed directly upwards, but I doubt it's anywhere near as bright and it's not covering as much area. Those lights they used to light up streets and bike paths are usually focused more widely so you can see what's going on adjacent to the path as well as in the path. This looks to light the path well, but I doubt it gives a good look at the sides.

    I doubt this is going to work for that reason. When crime rates spike along these paths because an attacker was able to hide next to the path, there's likely to be discussions and the experiment will probably be terminated.

    There's also the possibility of negative health effects from the chemicals they're using. I didn't see a mention of what they're using, but a lot of the things we've used for phosphorescence in the past have been radioactive or otherwise toxic.

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:18PM

    by butthurt (6141) on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:18PM (#412124) Journal

    We're told it's "a light-emitting material that charges in the sun." I don't know what the material is, but if it were radioluminescent it would be self-contained.

    The bitumen used in plain old tarmac emits a variety of hydrocarbons, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--which are carcinogenic, especially when it's being laid.

    http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol103/mono103-001.pdf [monographs.iarc.fr]

    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Monday October 10 2016, @02:12AM

      by Francis (5544) on Monday October 10 2016, @02:12AM (#412263)

      Presumably it wouldn't be radioactive, but, given the history of these substances and ones used for road markings, I'd personally like to know what it is if I were going to be living near it. The lead compound they used to use for those yellow lines on the road isn't exactly something that you'd want to be inhaling if you can help it.