A Rainbow Crosswalk Status Report

A Rainbow Crosswalk Status ReportPhoto: Roy McKenzie/Hoodline
Roy
Published on November 07, 2014
A few days ago, tipster Scott F. wrote in wondering about some yellow circles being painted on top of the rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of 18th and Castro.
We connected with Paul Rose at the SFMTA, who told us the markings are called "dishpans" and are designed to guide Muni buses through intersections by telling operators when to accelerate and when to coast to avoid damaging the overhead wires or shorting-out the power. 

After hearing about the defacement of the colorful crosswalks, Supervisor Scott Wiener contacted the SFMTA. As it turns out, they were not supposed to cover the crosswalks and quickly came out yesterday morning to remove the dishpans overlaying the colored stripes.

At the Castro Merchants meeting yesterday, business owners mentioned that they were happy to see the rainbow crosswalks go in, but were concerned about their upkeep, with some people observing that they are already looking dingy and dark.

Andrea Aiello of the Castro Community Benefit District said that she is reaching out to the Department of Public Works to see about getting the street sweeping machines to scrub the crosswalks. Aiello is also working on having the CBD's clean crew include the crosswalks in the pressure steam cleaning work they do every quarter.

Now that the crosswalks are in use, how do you think they're holding up?