[URBAN NOTE] "Dutch firm wants to replicate glow-in-the-dark bike path in Toronto"

[rfmcdonald]

Via blogTO, I've found Riley Sparks' Toronto Star article suggesting Toronto might get a glow-in-the-dark bike path on the waterfront in the very near future.

A Dutch design company hopes to bring its Van Gogh-inspired glowing bicycle path to Toronto in time for the Pan Am Games next year.

Thousands of fluorescent-paint-coated stones are embedded in the 1-kilometre-long path. The stones absorb light during the day, and at night they glow in a swirling pattern inspired by the Dutch painter’s The Starry Night.

The path gives off a soft, “poetic light,” enough for a user to see ahead but without producing significant light pollution in the wooded area, designer Daan Roosegaarde said.

Studio Roosegaarde designed the path and built it in collaboration with Dutch engineering company Heijmans.

[. . .]

The paint will glow for up to eight hours after charging in the sun. On cloudy days, both the bike path and highway lighting paint can be lit with LED lights with electricity generated by solar panels.