India to soon get luminous highways to enhance safety

News:

• Some of India’s dark patches could soon get futuristic luminous highways. These highways, costing just 15-20 per cent more than regular highways, do not require any street lights and come to light on their own as a photo-luminescent coating similar to glow-in-the-dark paint creates ethereal looking lines that get charged by sunlight.
• It costs Rs 11-15 per km to build a regular highway in the hilly areas.
• It will not only help save precious energy consumed by street lights but also make the roads safer.
• Studies have shown that proper lighting can substantially reduce fatalities and crashes.
• According to a government study, the energy consumption on public lighting will double to 13.2 (terawatt-hours) TWh by 2020 from the level in 2010. Street lights have high hours of use as they are on for over 4,000 hours per year and consume a lot of energy.
• The government is also planning to make rumple strips running along the lanes mandatory to alert drivers.

Source: ET