An Idaho man working, with support and financial backing from the U.S. Department of Transportation and GE, to develop the country’s first solar roadways was surprised to hear that Dutch SolaRoad-developer Imtech aims to be the first to market with a product.

SolaRoad announced last week that it intends to unveil a solar power producing bike path by January of 2012.

“That’s just five weeks from now,” said Scott Brusaw, founder of Idaho-based Solar Roadways. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that date gets pushed back a few times.”

Brusaw said he spoke with SolaRoad engineers several months back and they were having the same issues he faced with finding a successful glass surface that was durable enough and offered enough traction for traffic while still remaining translucent enough to let the sun through.

Brusaw has found a glass company he believes in. It manufacturers glass sidewalk panels for New York City. They are well-suited for bike paths and are graded for the weight of a car. He will use those glass panels to build a parking lot in his Northwestern Idaho town after the snow melts this spring.

That will give him a working prototype. He’s also had a glass company produce three different textures of panels that might be better suited to fast-moving road traffic, he said.

When he spoke to the company’s engineers several months ago, they asked about what glass company he was using and what he was doing to achieve the right kind of glass road surface.

There is room for collaboration, Brusaw said. And he would be open to working with a company like Imtech.

“It’s just hard to know how much to share,” he said.

These technologies are just in their infancies, and Brusaw said he’s not sure if he should be forming an allegiance with like-minded companies or competing with them.

Either way, he hasn’t heard from Imtech in several months and was surprised to learn that the company has advanced to launching a prototype so quickly.

“I certainly hope them the best,” Brusaw said. “It will be interesting to see what they do.”

Image courtesy of SolaRoad.