Downtown is getting some new signage just in time for the summer tourist season.
Eleven new signs will be installed as part of the first phase of the city’s new wayfinding system — designed to help tourists and local residents navigate their way to key attractions and destinations.
The first sign was unveiled Wednesday by Mayor Lisa Helps and members of the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations, in a show of solidarity to demonstrate that B.C.’s capital city is located on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen speaking people.
Each new sign will incorporate Lekwungen place names including:
- Inner Harbour – xʷsey̓’əm (two signs)
- Chinatown – čeymən tawen
- Douglas Street – xʷənitəm siʔem saɫ
- Old Town – kə’siŋ’aləs
- City Hall – siʔem tawen’ewtxw
- James Bay – sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ
- Ogden Point – čən’it taŋ’exw (two signs)
- Fisherman’s Wharf – sq̓e̓ʔqeq̓ wa’əp
- Belleville Terminal – xʷey’qʷəlʔəɬ
The signs will be focused around the downtown core, stretching along the David Foster Harbour Pathway from Ogden Point to the Johnson Street Bridge.
Phase 1 consists of 68 signs in total, including the 11 large wayfinding signs and other smaller fingerboard, fingerpost and flag signs. The second phase will focus on extending the same system into neighbourhoods and village centres later this year and into early 2019.
The City of Victoria said the signs – designed to help guide pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users – will create a positive experience for those trying to find their way, and reinforces the city as an inclusive, walkable and welcoming place.
