Quesnel city council unanimously approved up to $25,000 in funding to maintain four specialty crosswalks in the city.
The report by staff provided details on how the city would fund the maintenance of Quesnel’s three Every Child Matters crosswalks and the Pride crosswalk. All four crosswalks were painted at the cost of the organizations that requested them with an agreement the city would be responsible for upkeep.
Council also approved the Pride Society’s request for a redesign of the rainbow crosswalk to be in line with the updated pride flag. The Pride crosswalk and two Every Child Matters crosswalks are expected to cost $5,000 each to repaint. The third, larger Every Child Matters crosswalk is expected to cost $10,000 to repaint.
Coun. Martin Runge prefaced his comments by saying he’s concerned about the cost increase for maintaining the crosswalks, not opposed to the message they are sending.
“We’ve gone from $5,000 a year to about $25,000 a year which, for me, is harsh,” Runge said at the May 21st council meeting. “I would love to see an agreement where we maintain as we originally intended but if it becomes a big extra cost we just have to consider all of these things and how much we can do.”
Runge said he’d like to see the city come to an agreement with the groups who requested the crosswalks to split the upkeep costs.
The cost increase is because of how poorly the paint has held up, with initial estimates being they would last several years. The Every Child Matters crosswalks were painted in fall of 2023 and now three of them need repainting. One of the biggest reasons they deteriorated quicker than expected was the toll winter took on the paint on all three crosswalks.
The Pride crosswalk redesign will be painted with durable road paint rather than thermoplastic paint which is what’s in place now. The reason for the new paint is because thermoplastic is far more expensive and isn’t holding up as well as expected. All three of the Every Child Matters crosswalks are already painted with durable road marking paint.
City staff told council simply touching up the paint on the crosswalks is an option but the quality of the design would be affected. Staff also told council that while regular crosswalks do cost money to maintain, the significant increase for specialty crosswalks is in the colours, design and time it takes for specialty crosswalks to be painted.
READ MORE: Quesnel to seek grants to cover estimated $34M water treatment system
READ MORE: CRD employees picket Quesnel city hall, Williams Lake library
Mayor Ron Paull suggested instead of having specialty crosswalks, the designs could be moved to the edges of sidewalks where they wouldn’t be eroded by vehicles and winter road maintenance.
“The street … is subject to gravel, to snow plows, to graders to spinning studded tires. That would never happen on a sidewalk,” Paull said.
In spite of the conversation around the costs, the city voted in favour of the recommendations to redesign the pride crosswalk, repair the three Every Child Matters crosswalks and budget for their maintenance moving forward.