Sometimes, environmentalist culpability comes with pros and cons. Case in point: the Daejeon-Sejong bike path in South Korea, one of the only solar roads in existence. Between an obstructed view of the scenery and some cool perks like natural shade created by solar panels and chargers for electric cars, which do you think wins out?
Located two to three hours south of Seoul, the bikeway stretches for 20 miles between – you guessed it – the South Korean cities of Daejeon and Sejong. The bike path was made officially available to the public this April.
The bike highway is accessible through a number of underground thruways, and serves as a de facto median for the highway it runs alongside (or, more accurately, the highway it is more or less a part of). The solar panels are used to power the lights that line the highway proper, as well as the aforementioned electric car chargers.
There have been some complaints that riding between lanes of highway traffic as the bike lane is set up is noisy, separates bicyclists from the environment and exposes them to particulates and fumes. But is it safe to assume that you would rather have a highway that produces no carbon emissions than a planet that is quickly spiraling into a total oblivion due to greenhouse gasses? Yeah, us, too.
Watch this video of the bike path below.
