Plastic Roadways BUSTED!

So they are going to make roads out of plastic.... they will last 3 times longer.... will handle cables and water... AND be made out of recycled material!! Kinda like solar roadways, just without the solar panels!.. and now it has some 60 million hits on facebook!

Their FAQ page is far more realistic where they basically say they dont even know if its possible or not. Makes you wonder why they described it as 'a revolution in road construction'!

So the IMPLICATION is they are going to use polyethylene terephthalate, which is a great polymer. It's used to make soda bottles. However its just WAY too soft to make a road out of.

Could they make a composite material? Well maybe. Naturally it will cost more. If its fiber reinforced, you sensibly lose the ability the recycle the material. If its going to use rock to make a composite, then its basically indistinguishable from regular blacktop, with the exception it uses polymeric crap as the binder rather than bitumen. Hardly a revolution. People have been adding all sorts of extras to roadsurfaces for years. Most notably ground up waste tires worked quite well. Shoulda put that in the video really.....

Anyways, then you go and read their FAQ, and you realize that this is more things that they hope will be true, rather than the things they claim ARE true in their video, like 'this will be a revolution in road construction'. That BS has now been seen by over 60 million people! -great!

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[EternalBooda]

If the plastic is too slippery, just make the wheels out of asphalt!

[lahkit]

As a fiber technician i wonder how they plan to replace one road unit without breaking the cable. Going to be a lot of splices on that link.

[HairyDJMikeT]

So snow melds durung the day, goes into the hollow interior then freezes at night blowing up the road.

[friedmule]

But Thunderf00t you forget all the benefits, i.e. if a car gets on fire, 911 do no longer have to ask about where the car are located, it can be seen miles away and a half a ton of molten plastic has never hurt anyone! Oh and even the blind can now avoid driving over a burning road part, by the smell alone (how the blind would drive a car, is not the important here) it's innovation and the future. Also imagine how easy it will be to find the super "light" plastic-road tiles again after a tornado, you can easily spot them flying hundreds of feet in the air, and they do not break, just because they fly into a few cars on the highway, go trough a house or land on some pedestrians. Thunderf00t, you do not see all the advantages! Imagine how much power it will save, every time a tile or more have to be switched out, the hours without power or water while a new tile is transported, replaced and reconnected!! You simply have to embrace the progress and benefits!! :-)

[wisenber]

As an added bonus, when the plastic breaks down from UV, it can be carried directly into the water supply via its integrated drainage.
Your plastic star no longer needs to make the arduous journey when it escapes from your landfill. It can just be released directly into all of the local drainage thereby ensuring a steady diet of plastic.

[RugerMad]

Imagine doing a burnout and cutting the power to ur whole block

[LazerLord]

Or you know, we could recycle the bottles into, like, *other bottles*.

[NesrocksGamingVideos]

13 minutes in and you still haven't talked about how the entire road would need to be PERFECTLY STRAIGHT in all dimensions. No twists, no curves, no elevations.

[vylbird]

"Power lines, data lines, fiber optics and high-speed internet."
Speak really fast and no-one will notice you are repeating yourself.

[WhiteWolfos]

If roads were converted into lego roads, it would prevent Jaywalkers

[williamhammond]

One of the best advantages of asphalt is that it is NOT prefabricated. Asphalt is actively laid to fit the desired form at the job site. Prefabricated modules would probably be a nightmare anyway.

[yagzefedemirel]

So basically plastic roads are:
Non durable
When scratched by small debris under cars weight turns into microplastics which is worse than normal plastic waste.

[BlankBrain]

Make roads out of recycled gold!
1) Not affected by sunlight, water or oil.
2) Allows for levitating vehicles.
3) Readily supports mounting of diamonds for high friction and durability when wheeled vehicles are used.
4) Increases the value of gold for investors.
5) Looks cool.

[MirkWoot]

Think of all the micro plastic this would generate and go everywhere.

[Notllamalord]

Give me ten million dollars and I’ll make new DirtRoads(TM)
These roads cost next to nothing to make, and allow for easy maintenance!

[Erowens]

Cant wait for plastic solar thorium powered hyperloop freaking roadways

[stumbling]

Thunder, You should make an "Asphalt FREAKIN' Roadways" propaganda video, espousing the revolutionary properties of asphalt as a road surface.

[komentierer]

Wait.. *Plastic Solar Roadways*

*goes on kickstarter

[Vigamadur]

0:57 I'm more interested in that truck that can apparently levitate over pits.

[CristalianaIvor]

just imagine a car burning on a plastic road ^^' bye bye road, bye bye pipes, bye bye cables. yeah genius idea!