Draft #1 Summary_Reader Response_New paths for the roads of tomorrow

Last updated on October 5th, 2019

In a post from JCDecaux’s blog, "New paths for the roads of tomorrow” (2017), the author has listed out several trends for road developments that could bring about positive impact to human lives and greater sustainability. First example the author gave was substituting the material that is used on the road surface. He listed the undesired effects “asphalt” brings and cited separate projects developed by engineers - adopting material derived from “recycled plastic” and recycling waste (cigarette butts) by mixing them with asphalt to form a new mixture. The author also mentioned incorporating technology into roads which include developing roads that could harvest electricity and planting panels into roads that generate heat, melting down snow and ice that has accumulated on the surfaces. Improving the safety of roads. The last trend mentioned by the author was “Smart Highways” which uses sensors to detect motion that activates the light when cars are present thus saving electricity.

The author presented several creditable projects for road improvements. These ideas have been tested and proved to work to a certain extent. However, limitations of these project are not listed. That increases the uncertainty on whether or not these projects discussed in the blog post could indeed improve human accessibility on roads. Thus more concrete evidence could be presented to demonstrate its feasibility on real-life roads.

Firstly, in the blog post, for each strategy, feasibility could be discussed in a more comprehensive manner.  More concrete evidence of its feasibility can be shown. For example, using an alternative material for roads,  India had already built "one lakh kilometres of roads" in more than 11 states. A professor who has developed the process of building roads with "recycled plastics", Padma Sri Rajagopalan Vasudevan (2018), affirmed that roads that were built with recycled plastics last longer when compared to "conventional" roads. Roads made from the recycled material are still in good condition with "no potholes, no cracks" being detected. Take another project as an example, transforming roads into a source of energy,  There are numerous projects that have yielded great results such as the "SolaRoad pilot project" initiated in the Netherlands. At least 10,000 kWh of energy was generated, achieving remarkable progress. It also helps kickstarted a handful of other relevant projects.

Secondly, besides its strengths being spoken about in the blog, its constraints should have been examined as while. For example, replacing the material used in roads, the blog post could have included the drawbacks from using these alternatives. There are articles disagreeing with the use of using recycle plastics to built roads as people are unsure of the effects of "recycled plastics" in the long run. Floriane Boyer (2017) claimed that "recycled plastics" would decompose to release harmful waste that could affect "biodiversity". Additionally, the process of generating the new material from these plastics itself isn't environmentally friendly, argued by Nityanand Jayaraman (2015). In France, sensors being installed to generate power has been deemed a failure by Le Monde (2019). Within a short span of three years, signs of poor conditions have been observed. Cracked were found and in the year before, "part of the road had to be demolished" as a result of "wear and tear". The energy produced by the road fails below the anticipated value even as its height.

Conclusion:

A variety of road improvements projects were highlighted in the blog post. While some of these projects have only undergone the initial phase, the rest were already adopted. Based on reading the blog post, from my perspective, it seemed that all these ideas were feasible and practical with no faults. However, things could be far from reality. Projects such as buildings sensors in the road to generate power and panels that melts down ice and snow, although tested to prove workable in labs, were only implemented in smaller roads. Unlike project such as replacing material used in building roads, have been executed on a large scale. Although it has already imposed upon widely, there are still questions and concerns surrounding the use of "recycled plastics". There are even allegations that the plastics roads could cause harm to "biodiversity". Thus it would great to provide these statements for reference so as to give readers the opportunity to develop a well-informed opinion rather than something that is superficial.

References:

Jayaraman, N.(2015, December). Heard about miracle "plastic roads"? Here's why it's not a solution to our plastic problem, TheNEWSMinute. Retrieved from https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/heard-about-miracle-plastic-roads-heres-why-its-not-solution-our-plastic-problem-36927

Boyer, F. (2017, September). Eco-friendly roads made out of 100% recycled plastic, EVI. Retrieved from http://eco-volontaire-international.com/en/eco-friendly-roads-made-out-of-100-recycled-plastic/

JCDecaux.(2017, October). Re: New paths for the roads of tomorrow. Retrieved from

https://www.jcdecaux.com/mobility-trends/new-paths-roads-tomorrow

Karelia, G., Bhaskar, S. (2018, October). One Lakh Kilometres Of Roads In India Are Being Made From Plastic Waste, Is This The Solution To End Plastic Crisis? NDTV. Retrieved from https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/plastic-waste-roads-one-lakh-kilometre-india-20274/

Pasley, J. (2019, August). Photos show the world’s first solar road that’s turned out to be a colossal failure because it’s falling apart and doesn’t generate enough energy,  Business Insider US. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.sg/first-solar-road-france-failure-photos-2019-8/

Harsono, H. (2019, January). Why the world’s first smart highway will most likely be in China, TechCrunch. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/24/why-the-worlds-first-smart-highway-will-most-likely-be-in-china/

Rex Merrifield, R. (2019, January). Under-road heating system to keep highways ice-free, Phys.org. Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2019-01-under-road-highways-ice-free.html