A few months ago we unraveled everything about the Taihu tunnel in China and its LED ceiling that has turned the infrastructure into a tourist attraction. However, in addition to the very curious aesthetics offered by this illuminated ceiling, there is another reason why this infinite screen runs through the tunnel, and that is so you don’t fall asleep at the wheel. It is normal, since we are talking about the longest underwater tunnel in the country.
Eyestrain. Traveling the 10.79 kilometers of the Taihu tunnel at the maximum permitted speed takes almost ten minutes under the lake, enclosed between concrete walls, without windows or external references. And it is precisely this scenario that is most conducive to the appearance of visual fatigue, a danger especially if we are behind the wheel.
For this reason, when the tunnel was designed, lighting was no longer considered only a matter of visibility and aesthetics and also began to become a safety tool.
Tthree “heavens” distributed along the route. The engineers divided the tunnel into three sections and placed, at the junction points between them, what the technical documentation calls a “visual wake-up system against fatigue.” There are three ceilings made up of LED dot screens, very common in tourist locations in China.
Each of these roofs is made up of about 200,000 LED light pointsand the system can show different scenes, from a blue sky with clouds, a night sky full of stars or, on specific dates, the five-star flag of China. The control system can automatically switch between these scenes by time slots and sections. According to Baidu Baikethis “visual awakening” system seeks to relieve the tension and feeling of overwhelm caused by driving for a long time in a closed space.
Why those colors? Those responsible for the project chose blue, yellow and cyan as the main colors of their activation zones, combined with warm tones to generate dynamic changes. There is scientific support behind this decision, since light with cold tones and short wavelengths, such as blue, has non-visual effects on the brain that go beyond allowing us to see better.
Different studies have verified that the color temperature of the light influences the mood, alertness level and reaction time of drivers, something related to how this type of light stimulates the brain mechanisms that regulate wakefulness. Just like share From Motorpasión, simulator tests showed that blue-toned lights were the ones that increased drivers’ attention the most, followed by red-toned ones, precisely the colors that are repeated the most in the images showing the tunnel ceiling.
On the other hand, researchers presented their results at an IEEE conference in 2024, having conducted field tests in the Taihu tunnel itself to see how different LED configurations modified the eye movements and physiological responses of drivers in real conditions.
lThe walls also “speak”. Throughout the entire route, the side walls of the tunnel are decorated with stripes of blue, yellow and green that intertwine in geometric gradients, as if they were ribbons.
According to they count From the local media Sohu, all this display of lights is managed by an intelligent lighting system that not only decides which scene to show and when, but also monitors its own operation. The system incorporates real-time monitoring of breakdowns, with automatic alerts that inform the exact point where a failure occurs, which facilitates the maintenance of an installation that, after all, has to operate uninterruptedly under a lake.
Cover image | FeatureChina/AP (cnn)
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