
Poland unveils glowing bright blue bike lane.
Two years ago, on the 125th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh's death, the Dutch town of Eindhoven built a twinkling 1,970-foot path that evokes the artist's famous swirls in the painting Starry Night. Now its Poland turn. Their new solar-powered bike path glows bright blue at night.
The path near Lidzbark Warminski is illuminated by phosphor, a synthetic material that lights up after it's charged by sunlight. Visitors can walk or bike along the self-charging pathway for up to ten hours in the dark.
Studio Roosegaarde's Starry Night bike lane inspired TPA Instytut Badań Technicznych Sp. z o.o to create the glowing bike path. According to Next Nature Network, the luminophores, or "particles" in the bike lane material can emit a variety of colors, and the designers picked blue to best fit in with the surrounding landscape. A bike lane is still in the test phase. Though the bicycle path has been open to the public since Sept. 23, the company's work is not quite finished. "We want to test out this short section, see how it endures the winter and then create a plan to make it longer," said the team.