Edmonton to repaint rainbow crosswalks in Old Strathcona

The city will give the rainbow crosswalks in Old Strathcona a fresh coat of paint in time for this year’s Pride parade, as it continues to look for a permanent home for the crosswalks.

The crosswalks were unveiled just before last year’s festival and after a successful roll out, turned to the community to suggest a permanent home for crosswalks somewhere in Edmonton.

The painted lines have faded since last year’s festival and the city was also looking into ways to make sure the paint stood up to Edmonton’s winters.  

Olga Messinis, engineering supervisor in the city’s transportation operations branch, said they’re still weighing the options, but in the meantime they will make sure the crosswalks look great for this year’s parade.   

“They were a pilot location last year and it was a successful pilot,” she said. “We don’t have a permanent locations selected yet, so we have elected to repaint those again.”

Emil Tiedmann, communications director for the Pride festival said when the crosswalks went in, it was a clear sign from the city that they supported the community and it's great to see them being repainted.  

“Last year, when the crosswalks first appeared, we were pleased to see the City of Edmonton show their pride of the local LGBTQ+ community, and to display their support so boldly,” he said.

The Pride festival isn’t the only group looking to use a little paint to liven up the street surface.

Messinis said the city has heard from a lot of neighbourhoods and leagues with ideas on ways to brighten up the street.  

“We have been approached almost annually by community groups looking to paint streets or paint crosswalks,” she said.

Messinis said they have studied the Pride crosswalks since they went in to see how drivers and pedestrians interact. They want to continue this work and develop a set of guidelines looking at pavement quality and type of intersection to make sure new designs can be done safely.

“We’re making sure whatever we do allow on a city road right of way doesn’t put pedestrians in danger.”