Creepy Solar-Powered Bike Path That Emits A Ghostly Blue Is Wooing Everybody in Poland
Cyclist enthusiasts and citizens in Poland were in for a surprise last week when they received a unique, awesome present from the local authorities – a brand new sun-powered bicycle path that glows bright blue all night long. Â The bicycle patch is fast becoming a tourist attraction because of the creepy ghostly blue that it emits in dark.
The path near Lidzbark Warminski in the Mazury region is illuminated by blue luminophores, a synthetic material that emits light after it’s charged by sunlight. Cyclists and ordinary Poles are making a beeline to get a glimpse of the newly laid bicycle track which evokes strange sort of romanticism in moonlit or moonless skies.
Created by construction company TPA Instytut Badan Technicznych in Pruszkow, the track is still in its testing phase. It chose the town of Olsztyn in the Masurian Lakes District of Poland to test it out, partly because the landscape created an attractive setting.
“The glow is a very nice complement to the area’s lovely nature, lakes, small hills and countryside”.
The officials added: “Right now, it’s only about 100m”
While the luminophores can emit a variety of colors, the engineers picked up blue color for the path, as they thought it would best fit in with the surrounding landscape.
TPA president Ruttmar told Polish publication Gazeta Wyborcza that the material used in the bike path can emit light for more than 10 hours, which means that it can glow throughout the whole night and re-charge the next day as it absorbs the sun’s rays.
Waldemar Krolikowski, director of the Board of Regional Roads in Olsztyn, said that the luminous bike path is meant to improve the safety of people biking at night. They also researched the sustainability of the materials they used, and how to make the materials as cost effective as possible since this illuminated bike path does cost more than traditional lanes. The hope is also that the environmentally friendly cycle route will help prevent accidents without the city having to resort to installing costlier street lamps.
While the Starry Night bike path in Netherlands provided inspiration, the technology utilized in the Polish bike lane is quite different. The Dutch path lights up via solar-powered LEDs, whereas the Polish path requires no additional power supply.
Check out the bike lane in the video (in Polish) below.
