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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Expressing Crossings

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Philosophy found at the corner of Wylie Street and West 2nd Avenue. [Photo: Megan Finnerty]

“I dream of a better world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.”

This little call for cultural tolerance was pasted to a pedestrian crossing in Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek. It simultaneously means so little and so much. This crossing beside the onramp to the Cambie Street Bridge covers six unencumbered lanes of vehicle traffic and a seventh parking lane. The crossing itself connects to the Yukon Street Bikeway, part of a system that is increasingly being questioned by those who will have to pay attention to crossing chickens. It is right at the corner of the redeveloped Maynards Block, which itself is representative of the massive shift towards an on the ground population in this district putting more chickens on these streets. Most of all, however, it made me laugh; a bright spot in one of this City’s ever-present  grey mornings.

It is a rare pleasure when street art aptly connects to the infrastructure it is placed on. It transcends graffiti and becomes a piece of environmental art.

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2 comments

  1. Brilliant! I hope I live to see a world where car drivers have to roll down their window and press a button to request permission to cross. If that day ever arrives, chickens will certainly be justified in having their revenge, subjecting car drivers to the same daily humiliation and indignity suffered today by chickens in every corner of the western world, as was so very well documented in this video posted by ladyfleur:

    http://ladyfleur.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/crosswalk-fail-skyport-drive-at-guadalupe-fwy/

    I also wrote an article dedicated to the problem of chickens and roads a few months ago:

    http://www.softhitpost.com/2012/07/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road/

  2. Push-button crossing lights mean that there aren’t enough pedestrians/cyclists on these streets. They are a sign of a dead street.