Calgary mayor stresses importance of the strategy
During the Nov. 18 meeting of Calgary’s City Council – the first since the Oct. 21 election – re-elected mayor Naheed Nenshi made it known to everyone in attendance that the City’s crosswalk paint program was something he is very much behind.
The paint testing program was announced over summer 2013. The program’s purpose is to find more effective materials to paint crosswalk lines with and to set a consistent basis for how all crosswalks are designed and look going forward.
On the City of Calgary website, the page mentions that the goal of this pilot program is to “determine the cost and benefit of investing in more durable materials for the City’s crosswalk program.”
“I’m very, very interested in seeing this motion passed,” said Nenshi after he brought up the program during the meeting.
Even though it wasn’t included in the agenda, Nenshi informed the general manager of transportation, Malcolm Logan, that he is still interested with the possibilities that the program could bring to potentially help correct the lack of consistent standards that the different crosswalks in Calgary are missing right now.
“It was a fascinating project,” Nenshi said. “We learned that almost every crosswalk is re-painted every year and that there is no standard for crosswalks.”
Nenshi acknowledges the importance of the crosswalk paint program in the first city council meeting since the election.
Photo by Kyle Pura
“Also (they were) creating—I know this sounds shocking—stencils and standards for what crosswalks use in different areas and testing visibility. So I’m very excited to see what the results of that are.”
When asked about how the project was coming along, Logan was able to offer a brief update.
“I have seen a couple of crosswalks that have been installed,” Logan said. “I don’t know if they were all in. I don’t have that information right now.”
Through the program, the website also mentions that the City of Calgary’s traffic operations would be testing a number of different materials and paint by “installing 15 ladder style crosswalks along 17th Avenue S.W., from Macleod Trail to 14th Street S.W. using both paint and durable materials.”
The different types of materials used are to be analyzed by the City over a 12-month span, using a specific criteria list to measure performance. Final results are expected in fall 2014.
The criteria on the Calgary site included:
- Overall visibility of the cross walk (over time)
- Reflectivity
- Overall condition
- Installation cost by product type
- Drying time and the time to install by product type
More information regarding the program, is available on the City of Calgary’s website.
kpura@cjournal.ca