Little Italy crosswalks, Commercial Drive

Crosswalks at three Commercial Drive intersections in the green, white and red of the Italian flag, TrafficPatternsXD crossings with DecoMark neighbourhood branding for Little Italy.

The stretch of Commercial Drive that Vancouver still calls Little Italy now carries its identity in the road. Crosswalks at three intersections are laid out in the green, white and red of the Italian flag, and the sidewalk corners carry a round Little Italy, The Drive medallion in the same colours. The work was installed in coordination with the Commercial Drive Business Society.

The crossings are TrafficPatternsXD, an aggregate-reinforced preformed thermoplastic, because a crosswalk on the Drive takes turning and through traffic, winter salt and abrasion, and a painted tricolour would be visibly worn within a season or two. The manufacturer publishes the sheet at 150 mil, heated and stamped into the asphalt, with new anti-skid elements exposed as it wears. The medallions are DecoMark, preformed thermoplastic for custom graphics, used here as neighbourhood branding.

Commercial Drive does not close for pavement work, so the crossings went in intersection by intersection in overnight blocks: closed, prepped, marked, installed and reopened before morning traffic. Prep was the longest part of each night, clearing oil, gum and surface film so the thermoplastic would bond. The layout meets the city's crosswalk-visibility standard while still reading as the flag.

The photographs show the intersection from above, with the coloured crossings meeting at the intersection, a crossing at street level with the pattern in angular blocks of green, white and red, and the medallion at the kerb. A business improvement area planning branded crossings should ask for TrafficPatternsXD in the road and DecoMark for the branding, with the layout checked against the city's marking standard before anything is cut.

Read the full story: Little Italy, Vancouver: crosswalks in Italian flag colours