Mayor Helps is right about green pavement

Re: “Use the roads defensively,” editorial, June 11. Many Victorians, myself included, reacted with skepticism to Mayor Lisa Helps’ assertion that the use of green pavement zones along the Pandora Avenue bike lane followed a North American standard.

Here’s the bad news for Helps-bashers (myself included): She’s right. If there is such a thing as a standard for traffic signs in the U.S. and Canada, it is set by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, as reflected in the Manual for Universal Traffic Control Devices, which Canadian federal and provincial agencies follow informally.

In 2011, the agency issued “the interim approval for optional use of green coloured pavement for bike lanes.” Here is part of it: “During the past 10 years, the FHWA has approved experiments with green coloured pavement for a variety of state and local governmental agencies [in cities across the country].

“In these experiments, green coloured pavement is being used as a traffic-control device to designate locations where bicyclists are expected to operate, and areas where bicyclists and other roadway traffic might have potentially conflicting weaving or crossing movements.”

Apparently, other colours were already assigned to other functions, and green pavement was already linked to bicycle storage areas.

Helps is right! Steve Weatherbe Victoria