“It’s perfectly clear highways have to be in perfect condition in order to contribute to road traffic safety”, says Henk Nijmeijer, professor of Dynamics and Control at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Still, I think you’re a bit out of touch if you’re saying our highways are being neglected. Most innovations do indeed concern the vehicles and the roadsides, because that’s currently what people want. Thinking of a perfect highway, people will mostly think of proper lines and a smooth tarmac. But there are many more ways to improve highways as well as mobility and safety. In Japan, for example, they’re testing rubber roads instead of standard asphalt ones. It’s a major change that could have great advantages.”

“It doesn’t sound half bad, the idea of luminous and dynamic paint on highways, but it seems a bit far-fetched to call that a ‘smart highway’. In Sweden, they’re working on ‘i-roads’: roads with sensors that send information to the vehicle and vice versa. The driver is notified about slippery roads, or advised on how to take the third exit on a roundabout. That’s what I’d call a smart highway. I don’t know about that paint. They’re saying it will make street lights obsolete, but is it really safe to have the only illumination come from the tarmac? There’s a reason street lights are placed over the road.

And then there’s the issue of the energy supply: in the Netherlands, the sun is hardly reliable. What if it’s overcast and rainy for days on end? Moreover, slippery roads often go hand in hand with snowfall, so if any warning signs were to light up with that special paint, they’d be covered by snow. It’s a nice idea, but it’s just a little naïve.”

“I’m positive highways can be safer still. And I don’t mean just the roads, but the roadsides, too. Just think of the jungle of road signs – they’re not helping drivers at all. It’s the reason we’re currently working on a way to communicate that information in a different way. We’re also developing road sensors that keep drivers updated on the road condition. And, next to a smart highways and smart cars, we’re hoping to be dealing with smart drivers as well. I really don’t know if they’ll benefit from glow-in-the-dark highways. They want to start testing the idea near Oss somewhere next year, but I don’t know how large the test area will be yet. Right now, I don’t see Dutch roads light up on a large scale anytime soon.”