Report: Glow-In-The-Dark Road Markings Too Costly For Govt To Adopt

Glow-in-the-dark road markings are unlikely to be implemented en-masse by the government due to its reportedly high costs.

Despite trialing a novel new glow-in-the-dark road markings earlier this year, it seems the government is unlikely to implement it en-masse, reports Free Malaysia Today. The key reasoning behind which is simple – cost.

“The cost is too high, so we are probably not going to continue with the glow-in-the-dark lanes,” says Deputy Works Minister Ahmad Maslan in Dewan Rakyat earlier this week.

He also added that the pilot project for this carried out in selected areas, failed to meet the expectations of ministry experts. “We ran tests, but it did not satisfy the experts from the ministry,” clarified the deputy minister further. 

A pilot project that ran in Nov last year saw JKR Hulu Langat trialing the novel tech across  245 metre-stretch of road between Jalan Sungai Lalang and Jalan Sungai Tekali.

As a refresher, the pilot project mentioned saw JKR Hulu Langat install glow-in-the-dark road markings across a 245 metre-stretch of road between Jalan Sungai Lalang and Jalan Sungai Tekali. These served as an alternative to using traditional reflective road studs – better known as “cat’s eyes.”.

Despite not meeting expectations, widespread implementation of the tech was mooted as early as Feb this year by the Selangor state government. It had initially planned to apply this new tech to 15 other locations, covering some 15 km of roads in districts such as Sepang, Kuala Langat and Petaling.

However, the high costs of implementing the glow-in-the-dark road markings may well be the tech’s own undoing. According to Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi, the photo-luminescent paint used for the tech costs some RM749 per square metre.

In contrast, conventional road marking paint only costs RM40 per square metre, thus making the novel tech some 20 times costlier versus said standard paint. Given which, perhaps glow-in-the-dark road markings have yet to reach a feasible cost for widespread application by the government.