'A great investment for public safety': City tackling disappearing paint in crosswalks

The city of Charlottetown's crosswalk patrol has been deployed.

Work crews in Charlottetown have begun repainting crosswalks in need of a little touching up.

The paint on many crosswalks has chipped away, andin some cases, disappeared altogether.

Scott Adams, with the city's public works department, said the crosswalks need some work after winter, which is the hardest season on them because of the wear and tear from studded tires and plows.

"A number of years ago, they changed from oil to water based paint for environmental reasons, but we find it doesn't work as well. So, that's why we have to refresh every year and we're trying to find other products for our climate," said Adams.

'Make sure students get home safely'

The city is responsible for maintaining, painting and repainting approximately 130 crosswalks.

Some cross walks are given a higher priority for re-painting.

"We hit our school zones first," said Adams. "That's the most important with school still in session until the end of June," said Adams.

"We want to make sure students get home safely, so that's where we go first. We have two crews."

"We kind of split the city in half essentially, and we send them to those areas, the we go into the higher traffic areas like the downtown where there's a high pedestrian and vehicle traffic, that's what we want to hit next, and then we hit our major roads, the major arterials, then we move into the smaller subdivisions," said Adams.

'Public safety for both pedestrians and drivers'

Some pedestrians said it can be very difficult to know where the crosswalks are, especially if you're not from the city.

It can also become a safety issue if a pedestrian steps off the curband into the intersectionif the crosswalks aren't clearly marked.

"Some of the crosswalks are faded and it's hard to tell," said pedestrianLori White.

"Yes, get out and paint them more and make them more visible."

While Adams does admit the city has a lot of crosswaks, he said they're important saftey features and will continue to receive attention all year.

"You'll see crews out there for most of the summer trying to refresh them...In the fallwe might even have to go back and refresh a few [where]the paint didn't hold up as well," said Adams.

"We'll go back and touch them up," he added.

• MORE P.E.I. News IDon't build new, fix 'dilapidated' roads, says Green leader
• MORE P.E.I. News IHigher outflow from Stratford water treatment facility closes commercial shellfish fishing area