Rainbow intersection, Nanaimo

A full intersection in rainbow colour, installed June 2025 in TrafficPatternsXD: aggregate-reinforced preformed thermoplastic fused into stamped asphalt, so the colour holds under turning traffic and plow blades.

This Nanaimo crossing is not one crosswalk but the whole junction. Bands of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple run edge to edge across the intersection, with a chevron of black, brown, light blue, pink and white cutting in from one corner, and the white crosswalk lines set into the colour. An intersection is harder on a surface than a mid-block crossing: every vehicle that passes turns across it, and the surface has to take plow blades as well as tires.

Square One installed it in June 2025 in TrafficPatternsXD, an aggregate-reinforced preformed thermoplastic. The manufacturer publishes it as a 150-mil sheet, heavier than standard TrafficPatterns, heated and stamped into the top layer of prepared asphalt rather than laid on it, with fresh anti-skid elements exposed as the sheet wears. It is the system the manufacturer positions for major intersections and transit hubs, which is what a full-intersection treatment is.

The photographs show the intersection from above, the cones still out, and from street level, where the bands meet the kerb and the tactile paving at the corner. A municipality planning a full-intersection treatment should ask for TrafficPatternsXD rather than a coating, and for the standard crosswalk lines to be part of the design from the first drawing.