Residents and visitors will have a new tool to find their way through the downtown core.
On Tuesday afternoon, the city and the Downtown Business Improvement Association (Downtown P.G.) unveiled new wayfinding signage that will be installed in five locations throughout the central business district.
The three-sided signs feature a list of points of interest with the walking and physical distance from that particular sign as well as a map of the downtown with certain locations highlighted.
"When we envision the downtown we want, good wayfinding is simply part of that equation," said Downtown P.G. executive director Carla Johnston. "It's a way to personalize our space and enhance the walkability of the downtown."
Spots listed on the new signs are: Two Rivers Gallery, Four Seasons Pool, Canada Games Plaza, the Civic Centre, the Bob Harkins branch of the Prince George Public Library, city hall and the Coliseum, the RCMP detachment, the Tourism P.G. office and VIA train station and the Greyhound bus station.
Signs will be located at Seventh Avenue and Victoria Street, Seventh Avenue and Canada Games Way, Sixth Avenue and George Street, Third Avenue and George Street and Third Avenue and Quebec Street.
The new signs represent the "culmination of a lengthy and collaborative approach between the city of Prince George, Downtown Prince George and Initiatives Prince George," said Mayor Lyn Hall.
The project was one aspect of the leftover work of the Downtown Partnership, a select committee of council that was dissolved in October 2013. At the time of its dissolution,the group - created in 2009 as an advisory body to work on downtown revitalization with a variety of community partner stakeholders - had $125,000 allocated to wayfinding signage, public art and greenery.
"This project came in around $40,000," said Johnston, adding the goal for any leftover funds would be to add two more signs - which were designed and manufactured locally - on Victoria Street to bring the total to seven.
The signs help to enhance the perception of walkability throughout the downtown core, which will come in handy during the Canada Winter Games, said Hall.
"It's really important we advertise that and we depict it in our signage so people understand that they don't have to just participate at one event because the next one is too far away to walk," he said.
