Highway of the future is seriously smart
How a Dutch design lab could make roads cleaner, safer and weirder
By Katie McdonoughTopics: Science, technology, Design, transportation, Alternative Energy, green design, Life News, News
The Dutch design lab Studio Roosegaarde invents weird things. And now, the brains behind clothing that becomes transparent while the wearer is getting, ahem, intimate and a room that contracts and expands based on how hard you dance in it would like to redesign Europe’s entire system of highways and roads.
So they did.
According to Studio Roosegaarde the highways of the future are safer, cleaner and more environmentally sound. The lab has developed solar powered glow-in-the-dark roads that charge during the day to illuminate your evening drive, dynamic asphalt paint that transforms in response to road conditions like ice and sleet, and car lanes that double as electric car chargers by using magnetic fields under the asphalt.
These ideas might seem far out, but they’re already being implemented in Holland. If all goes well during the piloting program, there are talks of implementing these upgrades across Europe.
Why reinvent the road and not the car? As Studio Roosegaarde’s Emina Sendijarevic told Popular Science, it’s about changing the landscape from the ground up.
By focusing on highways instead of cars, we’re innovating the Dutch landscape to make ‘smart driving’ possible for everyone. It’s about safety, creating awareness but also making roads energy-neutral in terms of lighting, and most of all: creating the experience of an icon, the Route 66 of the future.
Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salo
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Developers evict historic women's shelter to build luxury hotel
-
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship
-
The secrets of cicada survival
-
Nobody "needs" to rape
-
Catholic Church in market for more exorcists
-
Report: Nearly a quarter of all Americans struggle to afford food
-
Louie Gohmert: Women should be forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term
-
This is what Guy Fieri looks like as a balloon
-
Boy Scouts to members: Just don't be a gay adult
-
Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
-
Mistrial in penalty phase of Arias case
-
My text blew up in my face
-
Boy Scouts end ban on openly gay boys
-
Mississippi could begin prosecuting women for miscarriages
-
Teenage girl claims she was beaten up for looking like Taylor Swift
-
Billionaire hedge funder: Babies, breast-feeding "kill" focus, keep women from succeeding
-
"Bookless library" set to open in Texas
-
Man arrested for sending Craigslist sex party to neighbor's house
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
-
Glenn Beck: CNN interview with atheist tornado survivor was a setup!
-
Incoming BBC news director on journalism gender gap: "We can do better"
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate -- or lose kids
Irin Carmon
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
Natasha Lennard
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
Kristen Gwynne, AlterNet
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
Natasha Lennard
-
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship
Katie Mcdonough
-
Glenn Beck: CNN interview with atheist tornado survivor was a setup!
Katie Mcdonough
-
Graphic video reportedly shows possible London machete attack suspect
Jillian Rayfield
-
Joe Francis apologizes for calling jury "retarded"
Prachi Gupta
-
Couple files groundbreaking lawsuit over child's sexual-reassignment surgery
Katie Mcdonough
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

127 points128 points129 points | 12 comments

78 points79 points80 points | 19 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
-
Diane Gilman: Baby Boomers: A New Life-Construct -- From "Invisible to Invincible!" -
Susan Gregory Thomas: Why Divorced Boomer Moms Don't Deserve The Bad Rap -
British Nanny Offered An Annual Salary Of $200,000 -
Arianna Huffington: What I Did (and Didn't Do) On My Summer Vacation -
Vivian Diller, Ph.D.: Maybe Happiness Begins At 50




36 Utterly Charming Nautical DIYs
These 3D Bags Will Put Your Backpack To Shame
22 Dreamy Art Installations You Want To Live In

Comments
6 Comments