Blue may be the colour for part of South East Greenway
Wexford County Council will consider using technology to illuminate a section of the South East Greenway’s surface, following a petition to bring a unique glow to the walking and cycling route.
Wexford Bicycle Users Group ( WexBUG) put forward the proposal, seeking to have the New Ross to Waterford Greenway really stand out from the crowd. One option would be to use asphalt which contains synthetic particles called ‘ luminophores’ which emit power captured from sunlight at night, creating the electric blue hue, making for a safer cycling experience for people.
The group has received around 750 signatures for the petition for the `glow in the dark cycle path’.
Originally designed in Holland in 2014 when a Dutch designer unveiled a bicycle path that came alive in the dark with patterns adopted from the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh’s celebrated masterpiece The Starry Night. The 1km path, which is near a place where the artist grew up in the province of Noord Brabant, glows with the painter’s trademark dots and swirls in the dark.
`It’s something I spotted a few years back in Poland,’ said WexBUG Chairman Phil Skelton. `Basically, it’s solar powered and it takes in sunlight during the day and then emits light at night, giving off this fluorescent glow. I think it’s important that we try to make the New Ross to Waterford Greenway really stand out. A lot more greenways are being built and it would be nice to have something unique to offer. I know there are already plans to have some audio-visual stuff in the Mount Elliot tunnel, so this would really add to it.’
In terms of cost, Mr Skelton believes that the path in Poland cost in the region of €28,000 for 100 metres, a figure he says is `not overly costly’ in the grand scheme of things.
Sinead Casey of the council’s Special Projects team said: ‘We are looking into it. It would be lovely and it would be really good if we could incorporate it into the route some way. We wouldn’t be able to offer exactly what is in the petition which only popped up after the detailed design was completed. We tendered for the contract before Christmas but that is not to say we couldn’t consider something. If it’s state-of-the-art and if it would make sense and would be affordable, then absolutely; we would love to be in a position to provide it.’