By Peter Martinez
For Orlando’s version of PARK(ing) Day we were asked by the Audubon Park Main Street Coordinator to come up with a “Guerrilla Crosswalk”. After hours of searching the internet, I could not find a place that explained how to make one. Our mission was to place a crosswalk over four traveling lanes and one turning lane, which came out about to about 60 feet of asphalt to cover. The crosswalk must be able to withstand multiple vehicles driving over it, and was to be removed even faster than the set-up, leaving no permanent impact on the road surface itself. So without further ado, follow the instructions below, and have fun!
1. Go to your neighborhood home improvement store, and go toward the roofing materials aisle.
2. Pick up a roll that looks similar to the one found below for about $22.
3. Get some white or close to white paint. The one we used was on clearance for $7, and we also picked up a set of rollers, brush, and pan for under $10.
4. Get some Gorilla Tape, which costs around $9.
5. Scrounge a block of wood that is ten or so inches wide, and start the project in an open space. After an hour of rolling the paint over the roofing material (over 50 feet worth) and fine-tuning the edges with a brush, and we had our crosswalk ready to lay down.
At the site, we rolled out the crosswalk over the first two traffic lanes and taped down the leading edge that faces the traffic. Therefore, if traffic is traveling east to west, tape down the east side of the roll’s edge, and do the same for the west to east side of the road. Were you expecting more? Well sorry to disappoint you, because that is all it takes to have a temporary crosswalk made in your town. Like mentioned before, we had every type of vehicle pass over the crosswalk from micro cars to transit buses and semi-trucks with no issues. Hopefully, this quick and easy how to could inspire many more crosswalk projects around the country, making our streets safer to walk across.
The Daily City does not necessarily approve of unsolicited or tactical urbanist practices. Please act safely and respectfully when engaging in practices like this.