Below is a repost from the Atlantic Cities website  written by  John Metcalfe

Britain Is Experimenting With a Glowing, Seemingly Self-Aware Bike Path

Oct 30, 2013

The spectral blue glow emitted from this British bike path looks like it should be pulsing off of magic crystals inside some miles-deep cavern. But if it saves a rider from road rash or fractured bones, then more power to the folks who made it: Let’s get even more parts of the cycle infrastructure lit up like Marie Curie’s lab table.

The so-called “Starpath” is a type of solar-enhanced liquid and aggregate made by Pro-Teq Surfacing, a company headquartered southwest of London near the awesomely titled town of Staines-upon-Thames. It’s in the prototype phase, with a test path running 460 feet in a Cambridge park called Christ’s Pieces. (The British and their delightful names!) The material works by absorbing UV rays during the day and later releasing them as topaz light. In a weird feature, it can somehow adjust its brightness levels similar to the screen of an iPhone; the path gets dimmer on pitch-black nights “almost like it has a mind of its own,” says Pro-Teq’s owner, Hamish Scott.

The company patented this curious substance to suit the needs of certain thrifty municipalities, which are trying to cut back on their nocturnal electricity bills. Here’s more about the Starpath from its makers:

It is certainly a sustainable surface, perfect for cyclist and disabled access and has a high safety margin with its anti-slip properties. It can also help to reduce the risk of collisions between cyclists and pedestrians at night without having to resort to artificial painted centre lines. The aggregate is a non-reflective light source, the lack of any glare off the surface further enhancing its acceptance in more populated areas. (eg: if this product were to be laid on a driveway in a private residence, there would be no adverse impact on neighboring properties).

Pro-Teq is hoping that governments will embrace its self-aware, supernatural-looking pathway for its energy-saving elements and the ease in which it goes down. The installation is fairly quick (the Cambridge job took about 4 hours), and because it’s a resurfacing technique doesn’t involve the burdensome disassembly and disposal of existing pathways. “The main bulk of the U.K. path network is tarmac, where perhaps it’s coming toward the end of its useful life,” says Pro-Teq pitchman Neil Blackmore in the below video. “We can rejuvenate it with our system, creating not only a practical but a decorative finish that’s certainly with the Starpath also very, very unique.”

No word yet on the private-security guards cities might need to hire to keep the Starpath free from glowstick-waving club kids:

 

Images courtesy of Pro-Teq Surfacing

The 2013 National Bike Challenge ends September 30th. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so at nationalbikechallenge.org, and start logging your miles!  Kansas is sitting at #12 nationally, and well behind #11 & #10 but there’s still time!

KanBikeWalk is the statewide coordinator for the National Bike Challenge, and have done a great job working to get the word out.

We need to contact all the bike clubs, health organizations, community clubs, civics organizations, cities, and businesses in the state, to ask them to tell their members, their employees, their customers, about the National Bike Challenge. Ask them to print out the flyer and post it to bulletin boards, ask them to include it in their paper and electronic newsletters, ask them to encourage everyone they know to ride their bikes and log their miles.

Here are some images that individuals, organizations, and businesses can use to publicize the National Bike Challenge. Feel free to copy these images and share them widely.

This is the main 2013 National Bike Challenge poster, formatted to print on 8.5″x11″ paper. Please download the PDF, print in either color or black-and-white, and distribute widely.

Here are some additional images, in various formats, from the official National Bike Challenge marketing materials:

Use this 600×200 banner image for your e-news, email blasts, or web page. Download and save on your computer for use. Link this web banner directly to nationalbikechallenge.org.

Use this 200×200 button image for a smaller space on your website or e-news and link it directly to nationalbikechallenge.org.

Other marketing material available include an 11 x 17 Poster, an 8.5 x 11 One Pager, and a Postcard. All of these are in PDF format for easy printing.

If you have questions about the National Bike Challenge, please refer to the Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ), the Guide for Groups, the Guide for Businesses, as well as the Official Rules and information on awards and the prize program.

If you’re looking for content for a newsletter, this Guide to Bike Safety is a great starting point, and may be freely republished and redistributed.

Comment opportunities available for Multimodal Studies

Public involvement and input are essential to the success of the Multimodal Studies planning effort. The goal of this planning effort is to identify transportation needs and to prioritize multimodal improvements for commuters, pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. This study is specifically focused on:

• Developing plans for park and ride facilities within Douglas County
• Enhancing pedestrian accessibility to fixed-route transit in Lawrence
• Developing a countywide bikeway plan by enhancing existing facilities within Lawrence and expanding facilities throughout Douglas County

Take the Survey

The Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), in coordination with the City of Lawrence, Kansas, has launched an online survey for the Multimodal Studies. This survey includes questions on all three elements of the Multimodal Planning Studies. While we understand that you may not be interested in all three, it is important that you answer all of the survey questions as this will help the project team better define the mobility needs and priorities of the region. The survey should take approximately 10 minutes and all responses are confidential.  A link to the survey is available on the project web page at www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/study now through October 15. Public participation in the survey will help the study team better define mobility needs and priorities in the region. 

Attend the Open House

The public is invited to share their thoughts about the Multimodal Studies on Wednesday, October 9 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Tom Wilkerson Room of the Indoor Aquatic Center (4706 Overland Drive) in Lawrence.   The meeting will be an open house. No formal presentation will be given. Representatives from the MPO and the study team will be present to answer questions and discuss issues or concerns.

The information presented at the open house will describe the overall study, potential policy changes, short-term capital improvement projects, and long-term improvement concepts that would contribute to making the region’s multimodal transportation vision a reality. During the meeting, the public will be asked to comment on mobility needs and transportation priorities for the region. Thereafter, the feedback from the survey and open house will be blended with the transportation planning analyses and incorporated into drafts of three transportation studies: Commuter Park-and-Ride, Fixed-Route Transit and Pedestrian Accessibility, and Countywide-Bikeway System Plan.   

For more information, visit the project web page at www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/study.  You can also contact Todd Girdler, Senior Transportation Planner, Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, at (785) 832-3155 and [email protected].