Some painted crosswalks can be easily overlooked, which can be extremely dangerous to pedestrians.
However, a small fishing town in Ísafjörður, Iceland seems to have come up with a brilliant way around this.
They’ve created a 3D optical illusion that’s not only aesthetically pleasing but is sure to make cars come to a complete halt. They’ve painted a crosswalk that looks like floating beams.
So, while pedestrians get to enjoy the feeling of walking on air when they walk across it, drivers will think there is something in the road and slow down to avoid hitting it until they get close enough to realize that the design is painted onto the road and they can safely pass.
Icelandic environmental commissioner Ralf Tryalla commissioned the piece after a similar project was carried out in New Delhi, India.
The project in New Delhi was designed by mother-daughter artist team Saumya Pandya Thakkar and Shakuntala Pandyaand, according to Interesting Engineering.
It only took Tryalla a few weeks to get the proper permits from the police and Transportation Authority to create the crosswalk, which was painted by street painting company Vegmálun GÍH.
“This roadway makes it look like a roadmap,”Vegmálun GÍH’s manager Gautur Ívar Halldórsson told Visir.
He and Tryalla had to do a little studying on 3D painting before they got the job done.
Tryalla said that the speed limit of 18.6 mph was too high for that area so they had to find a way to slow down that traffic further.
The municipal council will determine whether or not to include more 3D crosswalks in the area if this one proves to be a success.
In addition to New Delhi and Ísafjörður, these 3D crosswalks have also been installed in places like Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, Chengdu, China, Osaka, Japan, Vancouver and Germany.
Other countries have used more colorful patterns or different designs, like a child playing in the street or Charles Schultz’s Peanuts crossing the walkway. They are truly amazing pieces of art.
I mean, I would absolutely love to come across one of these in my town.
How cool would the world be if it was filled with functional art like this?!? Hopefully, other municipalities will be inspired to install similarly clever creations.
You can see people interact with the roadway as well as see it from different angles in the cool video byGústi Productions below.
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