Skip to main content

Motorway's SolarLite

Motorists are already benefiting from greater visibility on a stretch of the M25 and between the M2 and M20 near the port of Dover, County Kent, south-east England, where Astucia SolarLite studs have been installed. Now drivers between junctions 3 and 6 on the M40 motorway heading north-west from the M25 out of London also benefit from the studs.
February 15, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Drivers on the M40 motorway in the UK benefit from Astucia's SolarLite studs
Motorists are already benefiting from greater visibility on a stretch of the M25 and between the M2 and M20 near the port of Dover, County Kent, south-east England, where Astucia SolarLite studs have been installed.

Now drivers between junctions 3 and 6 on the M40 motorway heading north-west from the M25 out of London also benefit from the studs.

Astucia recently worked with 3005 Atkins and the 1441 UK Highways Agency to deploy SolarLite studs on the M40.

"SolarLite studs, unlike retroreflective cat's eyes, work intuitively, charging and activating from natural sunlight meaning they're a totally sustainable road safety solution. They also provide up to 900m of visibility: that's ten times greater than that of conventional studs," says 2696 Astucia.

The placement of the 7,000 studs was thoroughly considered. The stretches of road between junctions 3 and 4 and junctions 5 and 6 have been flagged as having perceived high rates of accidents due to the topography, road layout and lack of street lighting, thus the need for clearer road marking.

The Chiltern Hills escarpment, an Area of outstanding National Beauty, sit between junctions 5 and 6, and according to Astucia with the aid of eco-friendly SolarLite road studs, they are protected from pollution damage.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • SWARCO helps cut congestion at Dover Port and local roads
    September 29, 2016
    SWARCO is playing a key role in a US$110 million traffic-management improvement scheme at the UK’s Dover Port The port handles nearly $155 billion of trade annually and saw record freight volumes of 2.53 million units in 2015, up 5% on 2014. It handles up to 17% of all UK trade so its efficient operation is essential.
  • Eradicating work zone danger
    June 26, 2013
    New safety systems for highway work zones are helping to reduce deaths and injuries in the United States, while much work is being done in Europe to improve work zone safety. Guy Woodford reports. With more road building underway than at any one time in Texas history, the US Lone Star state’s Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is introducing its first highway safety system with queue-warning technology and temporary rumble strips to cut work zone collisions. Debuting along a central Texas stretch of the
  • Balfour Beatty awarded €54.01 million A1 improvement scheme
    June 5, 2014
    Balfour Beatty has been awarded a €54.01 million (£43.9 million) contract to design and build the Highways Agency A1 Coal House to Metro Centre improvement scheme in Gateshead, north-east England. The project will include the introduction of new parallel link roads between the Lobley Hill and Gateshead Quay (A184) junctions and an increase in lane capacity on the A1 main line from two to three lanes in each direction from the Metro Centre to Coal House junction, a distance of 6.44kms.
  • Australian road maintenance needs an immediate $3.78 billion boost
    July 4, 2014
    The Australian National Road and Motorists Association (NRMA) has published a report highlighting a widening gap in national funds available for road maintenance, a gap which the motoring group says has already reached Aus $3.78 billion. The association is calling on the Federal Government to allocate more fuel excise revenue to road projects, saying up to half of the current 38.1 cents per litre is required to fund the ‘black hole’.