Global engineering and design firm Arup recently released a report that predicts the future of highways based on today’s technological advancements and trends up to 2050.
The report, Future of Highways, projects a future where highways “will be made from self-healing, glow-in-the-dark materials and will be governed by sophisticated technologies that communicate with cars, road infrastructure, and GPS systems.”
Urbanization is a main theme in the report, as research shows up to 75% of the global population will be city dwellers by 2050. The Future of Highways report considers why this rise in the urban population means we will need to substantially increase the capacity for individual mobility and freight transport.
The report also considers how climate change, resource depletion, and changes in human behavior will shape our roads in the future.
Here are some highlights of what Arup thinks a city 36 years from now will be capable of having:
- Solar roadways for power generation
- Monitoring drones for predictive maintenance
- Driverless vehicles
- Self-healing road surfaces
- Bioluminescent trees for natural street lighting
- Dedicated cycle and pedestrian lanes
Curious to know more? The full report, complete with vivid imagery and infographics, can be downloaded here.
Related Stories
Smart Buildings | Aug 5, 2015
8 cities win Bloomberg's 'open data' award
The competition, called "What Works Cities," promotes innovation in city government by making the massive amounts of city operations data more publicly accessible to better improve issues like job creation, public health, and blight.
Smart Buildings | Jul 27, 2015
Perkins+Will imagines new opportunity for Atlantic City
The architecture giant believes it has a solution that could put Atlantic City’s existing infrastructure to good use—by turning the Jersey Shore city into a research center for climate change and coastal resiliency.
Green | Jul 27, 2015
MUST SEE: Dutch company to test using plastic waste for road construction
KWS Infra is piloting a program to make roads from plastic garbage, including bags and bottles extracted from the ocean.
Smart Buildings | Jul 12, 2015
Office of Management and Budget asks agencies to consider climate change when budgeting for construction projects
For the first time, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget is asking agencies to submit budget plans that consider the effects of climate change on construction and maintenance of federal facilities.
Smart Buildings | Jul 9, 2015
St. Petersburg Pier’s dramatic makeover gets green light from city officials
The Pier Park will be a platform for a multitude of smaller and more flexible programs and experiences for tourists and the local community.
BIM and Information Technology | Jul 1, 2015
World’s first fully 3D-printed office to be produced in Dubai
A 20-foot-tall printer will be needed for the project, spewing out construction material consisting of special reinforced concrete, fiber reinforced plastic, and glass fiber reinforced gypsum.
Smart Buildings | Jun 28, 2015
Why does an American city of 400,000 feel more compact than a European city of 2.4 million?
HDR’s Jim Thomson brings home some insights from a recent trip to Paris.
BIM and Information Technology | Jun 23, 2015
A steel bridge in Amsterdam will be 3D printed
To complete the bridge, multi-axis industrial robots will be fitted with 3D printing tools and controlled using custom software that enables the robots to print metals, plastics, and combinations of materials.
Smart Buildings | Jun 16, 2015
Former Studebaker plant to become mixed-use tech hub in South Bend, Ind.
Once the nation’s fourth largest automobile manufacturer, employing as many as 23,000 people in South Bend, the Studebaker campus closed in 1963.
Smart Buildings | Jun 15, 2015
NIST releases guide for community resilience planning
The guide lays out a six-step process that starts with the formation of a resilience team drawn from the community and culminates with the development and implementation of resilience strategies that are updated regularly.
