Just in time for Pride month, crews have finished work on the rainbow intersection in downtown Nanaimo that is expected to last for decades, while retaining the spot's vibrancy.
Located on the Commercial Street and Bastion Street intersection, the design features the LGBTQ progress pride flag.
"We consulted with the Pride society to refine the design and got approval," said James Knight, City of Nanaimo project manager. "We're really happy that the intersection mural is now in place, in time for the Pride parade on Sunday."
Constructed over the course of three days, the rainbow intersection is made from a thermoplastic similar to the material melted for long-duration crosswalks. The difference is that crosswalks are built using plastic bricks melted and spread through a machine, while the intersection is made up of pre-formed tiles used to create the mural design.
After being placed, the sheets are pressed with a radiant heater to approximately 180 C, ensuring the thermoplastic melts and sticks to the road. Corundum is added for grit, giving durability and slip-proofing.
Knight said that there will be very little maintenance required, just pressure-washing once a year or running a street sweeper over it.
"It adheres to the asphalt quite well so it can't really be taken up and we're told that the product should last 20-30 years without any colour deterioration, so it's quite a durable and beautiful product."
The cost of the rainbow intersection mural, including site preparation, materials, installation and overhead for the general contractor totals $118,000.
Daniel Quasar's progressive Pride flag design from 2018 draws inspiration from later iterations of Gilbert Baker's 1978 pride flag, with six horizontal stripes which represent red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for serenity and nature, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit.
The white, pink and blue on the hoist of the flag were lifted from the transgender pride flag created by Monica Helms in 1999, forming a chevron shape, pointing to the right to show forward movement, while along the hoist edge to show progress still needs to be made. The black and brown, first used by the 'more colour, more pride' flag by A.J. Hikes in 2017, represents solidarity with LGBTQ people of colour. The black on the progress Pride flag also draws inspiration from victory over AIDS flag, and the red, traditionally meaning 'life' serves a second meaning on Quasar's flag for AIDS awareness and the search for a cure.
