To ensure the safety of all road users in Vancouver and maintain optimal visibility of road markings, the City needs to more than double its current annual maintenance budget.
Currently, many road markings in Vancouver are faded, worn away, or barely visible, especially at night or in inclement weather. Crosswalks, medians, and other important markings are often difficult to read, posing a potential hazard to drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. This damage is especially noticeable in high-traffic areas and at intersections, where markings fade more quickly due to constant wear and tear and exposure to wind, sun, and rain.
Based on these concerns, in November 2023, Vancouver City Council decided to commission city staff to study strategies for improving road markings.
The City of Vancouver currently allocates $700,000 annually to maintain critical road signs, including $500,000 to repaint existing yellow center lines and white lane markings, which is considered a top priority to reduce the likelihood of serious crashes; and $200,000 to maintain existing reflective raised road signs to improve visibility at night and in wet road conditions.
Beyond the situations described above, all other road markings are repaired or repainted only “passively” or on an emergency basis, depending on the extent of damage, without adequate budgets. This includes pedestrian crossings, stop lines, speed bumps, bike paths, bus lane markings, and painted road markings. The existing budget is insufficient for regular, preventative, and optimal maintenance of all road markings.
Although $700,000 is allocated annually for road marking maintenance, the city’s budget has exceeded planned funds in recent years due to rising material costs and the need for urgent emergency repairs (based on estimates from city staff and citizen complaints, such as those received through the 311 hotline). Actual road marking costs were $1.04 million in 2023 and $944,000 in 2024.
”The current budget is insufficient to cover ongoing maintenance costs for bike paths, bus lanes, speed bumps, speed limit signs, and other similar signs. These signs were initially installed as part of infrastructure projects and were only updated occasionally based on individual requests. As the number of new signs and structures increases, the ongoing maintenance budget does not increase accordingly,” a city administration representative stated.
For example, due to extremely limited budgets, the City of Vancouver currently uses a passive approach to maintenance, only being able to maintain 2-3% of its 1,354 crosswalks, of which 18% are in poor condition. Another 65% of crosswalks are in acceptable condition, and only 17% are rated as good.
The estimated cost of repainting a crosswalk is approximately $1,500 per section. Worn crosswalks on busy streets may require repainting every three to five years, but on average, they require repair every seven to ten years.
City staff estimate the annual budget needs to be increased from $700,000 to $1.6 million to maintain optimal visibility of all signs and to expand the scope and frequency of maintenance.
Municipal administration staff proposed including this budget increase in the municipality’s annual operating budget review, which is typically conducted at the end of each year.
The increased budget will be used not only to repaint yellow center lines, white lane markings, and turn lanes on major roads, but also to repaint bike paths and solid markings on these roads. Furthermore, the increased budget will also ensure the proper maintenance of pedestrian crossings, stop lines, and other pedestrian structures.
The City of Vancouver has released a comparison of the annual budget required to maintain road markings and signs in optimal condition with the current actual budget.
Applying new road markings requires temperatures of around 10 degrees Celsius and at least 24 hours of dry weather before work begins. Therefore, this work is primarily carried out between April and October and is typically performed at night to minimize disruption to traffic.
Heavy snowfall can also cause road paint to wear faster, and snow removal equipment may peel off raised road markings prematurely compared to normal road use.
New roads use high-strength extruded thermoplastic materials for road markings, while existing roads use water- or solvent-based paints, with glass beads sprinkled on the surface to improve visibility. However, water- or solvent-based paints have a shorter lifespan and are more prone to fading over time.
Post time: Apr-21-2026