A wide Penticton intersection got a safety boost and renewed vibrancy on Saturday, June 1 after several dozen members of the community gathered to complete a street painting project.
Light rain didn’t stop people of all ages from getting creative with paintbrushes at Nanaimo Avenue and Ellis Street as part of the city’s Friendly Streets Initiative.
Saturday’s display of community spirit follows an event in early May, when 17 students from KVR Middle School painted murals on a section of Jermyn Avenue, with community safety on top of mind.
Kristen Dixon, the city’s general manager of infrastructure, said Saturday the community’s efforts will make the “unnecessarily wide” intersection of Nanaimo and Ellis safer by reducing the pedestrian crosswalk distance and encouraging lower speeds on the road.
“When roads are really wide, it encourages higher speeds, so by painting it out and shrinking the road, it will reinforce that this is a 30 km/h [zone],” Dixon said, adding that Saturday’s project was not only a cost-effective way of making the downtown area safer, but a way to bring people together.
“It’s actually a transportation safety project, but we also wanted to engage the community.”
The street painting project featured live music from Ari Neufeld provided by the Downtown Penticton Business Improvement Association, and a barbecue by donation at the nearby Elks Lodge.
Penticton’s ongoing Friendly Streets Initiative happens as the city gears up to make 30 km/h speed limits permanent in school zones 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Council recently approved the changes — to be implemented ahead of the
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