City authorities in Kansas City have installed a novel 3-D crosswalk in one of its neighborhoods in an effort to slow down speeding motorists. According to The Kansas City Star the crosswalk is inspired by and modeled after a similar crosswalk in the small Icelandic fishing town Ísafjörður.
3-D crosswalks are not an Icelandic invention: Similar optical illusion crosswalks have been painted onto roads in China, India and Russia, but according to the Kansas City Star it was the Icelandic experiment which inspired city officials in Kansas City. We at Iceland Insider like to claim at least some credit, as we broke the story for an international audience last year.
Read more: Photos, Video: 3D crosswalk in Ísafjörður helps slow down speeding motorists
Lideana Laboy, a city traffic engineer for the Public Works Department, told the Kansas City Star that the city hopes the crosswalk will help lower traffic speed in the neighborhood. There's a lot of children and pedestrians in the community, and a school nearby:
“We thought it was cool and attractive and that it would have an effect on safety, so we wanted to try it …We came here to talk to (the homeowner’s association) about it and they had an interest to maintain the low speed along the neighborhood, so we saw this as an opportunity to try this,” Laboy said.
Kansas city might not be the last to follow in the footsteps of Ísafjörður, as the local news site Vísir reports that town officials in Ísafjörður have been swamped with requests for information from foreign city officials interested in the experiment and its results.
A few photos of the Ísafjörður crosswalk:
City authorities in Kansas City have installed a novel 3-D crosswalk in one of its neighborhoods in an effort to slow down speeding motorists. According to The Kansas City Star the crosswalk is inspired by and modeled after a similar crosswalk in the small Icelandic fishing town Ísafjörður.
3-D crosswalks are not an Icelandic invention: Similar optical illusion crosswalks have been painted onto roads in China, India and Russia, but according to the Kansas City Star it was the Icelandic experiment which inspired city officials in Kansas City. We at Iceland Insider like to claim at least some credit, as we broke the story for an international audience last year.
Read more: Photos, Video: 3D crosswalk in Ísafjörður helps slow down speeding motorists
Lideana Laboy, a city traffic engineer for the Public Works Department, told the Kansas City Star that the city hopes the crosswalk will help lower traffic speed in the neighborhood. There's a lot of children and pedestrians in the community, and a school nearby:
“We thought it was cool and attractive and that it would have an effect on safety, so we wanted to try it …We came here to talk to (the homeowner’s association) about it and they had an interest to maintain the low speed along the neighborhood, so we saw this as an opportunity to try this,” Laboy said.
Kansas city might not be the last to follow in the footsteps of Ísafjörður, as the local news site Vísir reports that town officials in Ísafjörður have been swamped with requests for information from foreign city officials interested in the experiment and its results.
A few photos of the Ísafjörður crosswalk:
