Today we’ve battened down the hatches because the city finished road work on our street this morning. We’re trying to wait out the toxic fumes coming off the fresh asphalt. Of course our home isn’t a biodome, so some gets in anyway and wreaks havoc with my chemical sensitivities. 😷

That makes this a great day to write about replacing our asphalt roads with solar roads.

There are several good reasons to make the switch. According to OSHA:

“Over a half-million workers are exposed to fumes from asphalt, a petroleum product used extensively in road paving, roofing, siding, and concrete work. When hot asphalt is applied in a molten state, it generates toxic fumes. Workers exposed to asphalt fumes are at risk of developing headaches, rashes, cough, and possibly cancer.”

In addition to mitigating these health risks, converting our roads would allow us to harvest solar energy from millions of square miles.

Solar Roadways® is currently under contract with the US Department of Transportation to deliver this!

“Solar Roadways® (SR) is a modular system of specially engineered solar panels that can be walked and driven upon. Our panels contain LED lights to create lines and signage without paint. They contain heating elements to prevent snow and ice accumulation. The panels have microprocessors, which makes them intelligent. This allows the panels to communicate with each other, a central control station, and vehicles. Many people are surprised to learn that our panels are made of glass… but not ordinary glass. SR panels are made of specifically formulated tempered glass, which can support the weight of semi-trucks. The glass has a tractioned surface which is equivalent to asphalt. [….] Eventually our panels will be available for highways, but first will come non-critical applications such as driveways and parking lots. We are readying to install the first projects now.”

These panels would increase driving safety and reduce health hazards from installation. The modular nature of the solar panels would allow quicker, easier, and cheaper repair of broken or malfunctioning portions than our current system. (How many roads in your neighborhood have been nigh undriveable for years before getting fixed? How many times has the DOT in your area patched a pothole only for it to wash out again in the next rainstorm? Now imagine life without potholes!) Technology upgrades might allow cars to recharge from the solar road while driving, helping to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels and their harmful emissions.

All of the wiring could run in a covered channel that would replace the sidewalk curb. This would allow easier access to fix any problems (the modularity of the panels would also make it much easier to work on pipes and other infrastructure under the road way. Instead of digging up the road, just remove the necessary panels and put them back when you’re done!).

Internet, telecom, and electric grid wiring could also run through the curb channels. This would make it easier for these pieces of infrastructure to reach more people and allow them to be worked on more safely. In the case of telephone wires, running them through the channel would be much safer for everyone than our current arial system. I was on a school bus when a telephone wire fell and struck the windshield once. It was very dangerous as it twitched and sparked like a demonic cat’s tail on the road. This danger would be eliminated.

I do question whether using LEDs to replace road striping is a good idea. There’s already a lot of light pollution in our world and we don’t need more.

It’s possible that LED street-level lighting could replace streetlights. This would be a great change because streetlights are inefficient and can actually increase your danger of attack by human predators. At night, it’s better to have low light at our feet, just enough to see the ground. This is more efficient, produces less light pollution, and helps preserve night vision. Preserving night vision is important because human predators often attack when victims walk between the spotlights created by streetlights. The victim is temporarily blinded by the lighting change. Consistent foot- or street-level lighting would help.

On the other hand, LEDs tend to be very bright. As their use has increased in cars and streetlights, I’ve increasingly needed to wear sunglasses at night (cue the music!) to ward off the painful glare so I can see. More super-bright little lights is not the answer.

I would replace the LEDs in the Solar Roadways panels with colored chips that can flip between colors and rely on other solutions for light.

Overall I am very excited about this project and don’t think they can roll it out nationwide fast enough!