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Work starts on Commercial Drive’s Italian intersections

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Red, green and white painted crosswalks on Commercial Drive
/ Community

There will be an extra splash of colour at this year’s Italian Day celebrations, with work underway painting local crosswalks the red, white and green of the Italian flag.

We teamed up with the Commercial Drive Business Society to turn crosswalks on Commercial Drive – known as Vancouver’s Little Italy – into decorative attractions that celebrate the area’s Italian heritage.

The work will be complete in time for this year’s Italian Day celebrations on June 9, with painting recently completed at the intersection of Commercial Drive and East 1st Avenue. The intersections of Commercial Drive and Charles Street and East 4th Avenue will also be painted.

“We’re thrilled that intersections along Commercial Drive will be turned into colourful local attractions just in time for this year’s Italian Day–the popular street festival’s 10th anniversary,” said Carmen D’Onofrio, president, Commercial Drive Business Society. “We would like to thank FortisBC for helping fund this exciting project.”

FortisBC committed to helping fund the crosswalk painting last September as a way to show our appreciation to the community for its patience during gas line upgrades along East 1st Avenue in Vancouver.

“It’s a privilege to serve this community,” said Douglas Stout, vice-president, market development and external affairs, FortisBC.

“In funding these new crosswalks, we’d like to say thank you by adding some more colour to an already vibrant community.”

Four kilometres of gas line was built along East 1st Avenue in Vancouver last year as part of the FortisBC Gas Line Upgrades project, which is replacing 20 kilometres of gas line in Vancouver, Burnaby and Coquitlam in 2018-19.