Granville Island crosswalk, two years on

A TrafficPatternsXD crosswalk outside Granville Island Brewing, photographed just over two years after installation and looking as it did on day one: the case for aggregate-reinforced thermoplastic under delivery traffic.

Granville Island is not a gentle test. Delivery trucks serve the Public Market, transit buses run through, passenger vehicles turn over constantly and, in summer, pedestrian volumes at the crossings are intense. The TrafficPatternsXD crosswalk outside Granville Island Brewing was photographed just over two years after it went in, and it looked as it did on the first day: colour still saturated, edges still clean, no delamination at the margins.

Square One installed it in cooperation with the manufacturer. TrafficPatternsXD is a heavy-duty preformed thermoplastic, 150-mil aggregate-reinforced sheets heated and stamped into the top layer of prepared asphalt, and the manufacturer publishes it for the busiest crossings, with new anti-skid elements exposed as the sheet wears. It was specified here because crossing frequency and turning vehicles would have worn a lesser material early.

The photographs show a red-brown brick pattern with white borders running from the kerb to the brewery doors, a truck waiting at the line, and a wet day with the pedestrian sign in the foreground. Two years at a crossing like this is the equivalent of many more at a suburban intersection, which is why the check-in was worth recording. A developer or municipality asking how long a crossing will last should ask to see installed work of a similar age under similar traffic.

Read the full story: Granville Island crosswalk: two years on and still sharp