Malaysia's glow-in-the-dark roads replace streetlights: What are they and how do they work?

Streetlights are like our eyes in the dark on roads where even the sight of our eyes fails to see.

Imagine driving down a dark rural road at night, no streetlights in sight, just your headlights cutting through fog and rain, and suddenly, the lanes light up on their own, glowing steadily like a sci-fi dream, guiding you safely without power lines or bulbs.

Malaysia took an advance step in tech at this future innovation where suncharged lines light up the roads.

What is Malaysia's glowing roads experiment?

Late 2023 brought a wow moment to a 245-meter two-lane stretch near Semenyih in Selangor's Hulu Langat district. Drivers found lane markings glowing brightly after dark, powered not by streetlights or reflectors, but by sunlight absorbed during the day and released slowly at night.

Installed by Malaysia's Public Works Department (JKR) between Jalan Sungai Lalang and Jalan Sungai Tekali, it was the nation's first try at photoluminescent road markings, a technology pitched as a fix for thousands of unlit rural kilometers and over 6,000 annual road deaths, according to an Indiandefencereview report.

The glow roads are quite expensive

Hope dimmed a year later. In November 2024, Deputy Works Minister Ahmad Maslan told Parliament, “The cost is too high, so we are probably not going to continue with the glow-in-the-dark lanes.” Tests fell short of ministry standards, “We ran tests, but it did not satisfy the experts from the ministry” , according to a Daily Galaxy article.



The killer stat? Photoluminescent paint ran RM749 per square meter, nearly 20 times pricier than RM40 standard paint, as per Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi and Paul Tan’s Automotive News figures.

How do these toads glow in the dark?

The magic came from strontium aluminate, soaking up sun to glow up to 10 hours post-sunset, no electricity needed. It shone in wet weather, where retroreflective paint flops, hence Malaysia's heat, humidity, and UV battered it.

MIROS researchers and a 2021 International Journal of Pavement Research study said that faster fade-out in tropics, needing repaints every 18 months, spiking long-term costs

Lessons from global tests and road ahead

Netherlands and Japan ran small trials on bike paths since the 2010s, focusing aesthetics over heavy use. Malaysia looked for something bigger, swapping studs and lights in power-poor areas, but durability demands proved too steep.