Aloha Crosswalks

Faithful readers will know how disappointing I find Ottawa crosswalks. At the risk of beating the old drum one more time... examine the above crosswalks in Honalulu. They are as wide as the entire widened sidewalk, ie from building facade to curb line. They are brightly marked with zebra stripes.  While you are at it, notice the decorative lamp posts used throughout the downtown and Wakiki areas, and chinese tiles on the building awning.

Now compare those picture of how Honalulu does it right... to these ones of Ottawa. Feel free to come up with your own comparisons: for example, Bank Street now has wide sidewalks - do the crosswalks line up? are they nearly as wide? Shown below are two intersections on Parkdale and one on Preston:

I suspect Ottawa sidewalks are positioned relative to the stop line for vehicles and vehicle lanes, and with little regard to the sidewalks they are supposed to be connecting. Whether the sidewalks are "regular" sized, like two of the pictures above, or the new very wide sidewalks alongs parts of Bank, Preston, or West Wellie (and soon... Somerset) the crosswalks tend to be much smaller, narrower, and from a pedestrian point of view -- randomly placed anywhere but in a straight line.