Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

http://inhabitat.com/future-dutch-roadwa...like-lego/

EXCERPT: The Dutch city of Rotterdam may soon be the first to have roads made of recycled plastic waste fished out of world oceans. The city is collaborating with the construction firm VolkerWessels to devise a plan to revolutionize road systems with modular plastic panels that snap together [like Legos]. Not only is the proposed design eco-friendly because it repurposes plastic waste that clogs the seas into something useful, but replacing traditional asphalt also has environmental benefits....

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The Long and Winding Road to Becoming an Architect: http://blog.lpainc.com/lpa-blog/the-long...-architect

EXCERPT: This story is about a journey that has taken more than half my lifetime to traverse. Last month, I officially became an architect licensed to practice architecture in the state of California. This is a tremendous burden off my shoulders and a definite source of pride. Now—after eight exams, three years of internships, five years of college and nearly eight years of real-life job experience at LPA—I can formally call myself an architect.

[...] It’s recommended that young designers start studying for their licensing exams as early as possible, because life grows more complicated and inevitable future milestones such as marriage and family make studying even more difficult. Plus, those fresh out of school are still accustomed to the scholastic mode, which becomes more of a struggle the further removed from college people become....

I can't see the plastic road holding out well. Plastic can become very brittle when bleached by sunlight, so it would be intriguing to see or understand what they would attempt to do to deal with that as a problem.

There is then the problem of Friction and load, plastic can deform in shape through friction, obviously anything with a high weight load will generate a greater friction to a road surface so I'd suggest that it wouldn't be much use on high trafficked or heavy type of traffic roadways. (It might be useful in low speed park roads or housing estates)

Deformations could lead to slippery patches with a lessened level of friction (again this is only if a pure plastic, with the addition of gravel or some other solid it might reduce this risk).

As for "white roads to reflect sunlight and reduce heat", the problem here is it's a bit like a Squash court. You can't go in there with your standard outside footwear because you leave marks everywhere. So what do you think will happen with people driving around on their rubber 70 radials? Black streaks everywhere.... :/

Furthermore is the concern of what happens if there is a fire (a car fire can happen either by accident or some stupid joyrider wanting to burn out the evidence) how is that going to effect the surface?, will the heat reflect or melt it? (Standard tarmac tends to melt a bit)