Smart Highway

European construction company, Heijmans Infrastructure, has teamed up with Dutch design firm Studio Roosegaarde to develop Europe’s first Smart Highway concept in the Netherlands.

Expected to be introduced by mid-2013, the Smart Highway concept makes roads more safe, sustainable and interactive with the help of interactive lights, smart energy and road signs that can adjust to specific traffic situations.

Studio Roosegaarde founder Daan Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure presented the first prototypes of the Smart Highway during the Dutch Design Week held in October 2012.

The new designs under the concept include the Glow-in-the-Dark Road, Dynamic Paint, Interactive Light, Induction Priority Lane and Wind Light.

The Glow-in-the-Dark Road design uses a special foto-luminising powder that eliminates the use of extra lighting and gets charged in daylight with a capacity to illuminate roads for up to ten hours at night.

On the other hand, Dynamic Paint design features a paint that becomes visible according to temperature fluctuations and allows the surface of roads to communicate adequate and appropriate traffic information directly to drivers.

"Studio Roosegaarde has developed interactive projects such as Dune, Intimacy and Smart Highway."

For example, the surface of the roads will feature ice-crystals when temperature falls to a certain point to indicate that they are cold and slippery.

The UK authorities announced that lights on motorways, residential streets and footpaths will be turned off or will be dimmed from as early as 9pm to save costs and meet sustainability targets, and the new Smart Highway concept can be helpful.

Studio Roosegaarde has developed interactive projects such as Dune, Intimacy and Smart Highway.

Heijmans is a property development, residential building, non-residential building, technical services and infrastructure company, and has presence in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.


Image: Dynamic Paint design features a paint that becomes visible according to temperature fluctuations. Photo: courtesy of Studio Roosegaarde BV.