Glow in the dark walkway, Palmerston North – Late 2020
In Late 2020, Resin Surfaces installed 26 glow in the dark images on a walkway at Palmerston North. The walkway runs along the southern bank of the Manawatu River, to the East of the He Ara Kotahi bridge.
The shared footpath / Cycleway is about 3 metres wide laid in Asphalt, and goes through a very dark area with the river to the north and farm paddocks to the south.
The job was project managed by Jason Pilkington at the Palmerston North City City Council. In conjunction with them we trialled a few methods to achieve a bright glow in the dark hard wearing surface, and found we achieved the best result by using an Aliphatic resin with glow in the dark powder entrained into it.
The glow is very powerful, particularly in the first few hours after sunset, when most of the evening strollers use the path.
The secret to achieving great glow in the dark surfacing, is to ensure that there is no ambient light (almost impossible to achieve in a built up area), and that you do not stint on the fairly expensive glow in the dark powder.
One day I would like to do it and have a 5 minute burst of black light flood the patches every hour or so, to keep it glowing brightly throughout the night.
