Oh, and covering the roads (with anything, no solar panels needed) solves the ice/snow problem as well, zero energy needed. Keep all the solar power you generate, the ice/snow never gets to the road.
The snow melting is classic. I guess this would have to be in a fast burst mode rather than just keeping the road warm. For the latter it would be more efficient to paint the road black, or make it out of some sort of dark tar like material to absorb the suns rays. For the former if you actually manage to melt the snow it will turn to water and then freeze again. Personally I’d rather drive on snow than sheet ice.
Something like, oh, I dunno… asphalt? 
Depends. Does this asphalt you speak of have other good properties that would make it suitable for roads?
Well, it’s cheap, it’s completely recyclable, it has good traction characteristics, and it’s widely available. Oh, and it’s mostly (95%) gravel, so we’re not likely to run out of it any time soon. It’s also easy to lay and easy to dig up (comparatively).
Alright, I didn’t check the facts on the specific heat of fusion vs specific heat, my bad :-[
At the end of the day, the Solar Roads guys say that they invented a glass with the traction and other properties to make it suitable for use on a road way, and managed to get a US government grant to find out for sure. What it costs (they say it costs 3x an asphalt road) and what it produces in energy I don’t know.
Exactly the point. There’s a WHOLE LOT of “I don’t know” and “they haven’t said”, and also a lot of “couldn’t possibly work”.
SBIR’s goal is to promote small business, not reinvent roadways. It’s somewhat telling that they haven’t received another grant. If it was amazing as they say, one would think they’d have made it into SBIR phase III, and wouldn’t need IndieGoGo. IndieGoGo campaigns aren’t known for investors that do their homework before dumping money into a project with a snazzy, catchy video demo.
I wonder how they’d do on Shark Tank? 
@ godefroi,
http://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sbir
It could be they weighed their options and decided to go Indegogo for whatever reason.
Shark tank doesn’t invest in ideas (no investor does). You’d have to have revenue before investors take you seriously.
SBIR Phase III is basically, if your stuff turns out to work, then the people who actually build roads contract with you to fund your final R&D and/or production and get it laid down.
They (apparently) didn’t make it into phase III.
One thing I’ve been curious about is how this system handles heat expansion and contraction.
The biggest thing that destroys the roads where I live is the expanding and contracting due to temperature extremes. When a gap opens up and water gets in and it freezes hello pothole.
@ jasuk70, These are asphalt roads or concrete?
They are a mixture of both.
Just stole this link from Ian Lee’s G+. 
This guy makes some interesting and valid points.
I love Dave’s video. Us outspoken Aussies… 
Why do all those anti-SolarRoadways youtube critics have to do it in a soooooo annoying manner?..
Indeed. I like dave’s videos and I think the points he makes about the leds is valid. So I guess they will have to go back to painted lines on the solar roadways, or invent a passive system for the day, and leds for the night.
My Toyota Corolla weighs more than the tractor they used to demonstrate the strength of the panels