Transportation
The Case for Guerrilla Crosswalks
Activists are painting unsanctioned DIY crosswalks at intersections in cities like Seattle and LA. Transportation officials should understand why.
Exasperated by city inaction, some crosswalk advocates in Seattle and LA have gone rogue.
Photographer: Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images
On Nov. 14, a crosswalk appeared at Seattle’s busy intersection of Olive Way and Harvard Avenue. The city’s department of transportation was not happy about it.
This new crosswalk was unauthorized; a group of residents of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood painted it themselves. Two days later, Seattle Department of Transportation workers were at the scene, power-washing the zebra stripes into oblivion.