ACT Territory and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury said a surface treatment that would light up at night had been applied to a 220 metre-long path adjacent to Purdie Street in Bruce.

The product looked like thick sandpaper and was made from a combination of aggregate and minerals which absorbed sunlight to provide eight or more hours of illumination.

"Places such as parks and nature reserves do not have street lighting due to the impact on native fauna and high costs and this technology, which allows the path to emit a soft glow at night, is a great alternative to the more traditional overhead lighting," Mr Rattenbury said.

"The surface has now been applied and will take a number of days to settle before its full illumination comes into effect early next week."

Mr Rattenbury said the glowing path would boost safety for pedestrians and cyclists at night and was expected to have less of a negative impact on nocturnal animals than street lights.

The path will link sites such as GIO Stadium, the Australian Institute of Sport and Canberra Institute of Technology Bruce campus.

A similar glow in the dark path that was rolled out in Gosford on the NSW central coast last year had been very popular with the community and boosted access to key community hubs, Mr Rattenbury said.

He said the trial didn't have a fixed timeframe and would run for as long as it took to gather enough information about its ecological impact and the effects of different weather conditions on the path.