Victoria’s first ever pedestrian scramble crosswalk is now active downtown

Visitors of downtown Victoria may notice a few new additions to iconic streets and intersections.

On Thursday, the city launched its first ever pedestrian “scramble crosswalk” and a new stretch of protected bike lane along downtown’s Wharf Street.

The scramble crosswalk at the intersection of intersection of Humboldt street and Government street, and will allow for pedestrians to cross in either direction or diagonally on a walk signal.

See also: Beloved inner harbour tree cut down to make room for bike lanes

The new pedestrian crosswalk is the first of its kind in Victoria and was designed to increase efficiency for walkers in the area.

“The focus of the design was really to optimize pedestrian flow of the zone,” Victoria’s Director of Engineering and Planning, Fraser Work, told Victoria Buzz back in January.

According to the city, the intersection — which sits in front of the Fairmont Empress hotel and the Victoria Visitor Centre — needed improvements to accommodate the high volume of pedestrians, especially for the summer season when the area becomes crowded with tourists and residents.

See also:

• Victoria will spend over $1.2 million more on bike lanes to complete the network by 2022
• North Saanich to spend $1.5M on bike lane expansions

Besides the scramble crosswalk, Victoria’s newest section of protected bike lane launched Thursday and can be located on Wharf Street between the Johnson Street Bridge and Fort Street.

The remainder of the Wharf Street bike lane will then open for public use in two more sections later this month, with the Fort Street to Government Street stretch opening on August 8th, and the final Government Street to Douglas Street section opening on August 15th.

A number of intersections that connect with Wharf Street have been impacted and redesigned following the launch of the new bike lane.

Diagrams of the affected intersections are pictured below: