Zhongzhong pedestrian and vehicle separation markings are severely worn and Chen Yijie calls for immediate repainting

Taipei City promotes a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly environment. Some sidewalks have white dotted lines and pedestrian and bicycle icons to guide "vehicles to the outside and people to the inside" diversion. Taipei City Shilin Beitou District City Councilor candidate Chen Yijie found that the pedestrian and vehicle separation markings opposite the Tianmu Baseball Stadium were severely worn. Not only were the white dotted lines intermittent, but many bicycle and pedestrian icons were only left with blurred white paint, making it difficult to identify the originally planned movement line. The city government should review and improve it.

Chen Yijie pointed out that both sides of Zhongcheng Road originally belonged to the city's shared bicycle road network. In 2024, the Traffic Control Engineering Office cooperated with the "Taipei Year of Traffic Safety" policy and worked with the Public Works Bureau's New Engineering Office to promote the intersection reconstruction project along Zhongcheng Road. At the same time, the city government also implemented pedestrian and vehicle separation markings on sidewalks with a width of more than 2.4 meters across the city, using white dotted lines and ground icons to guide bicycles to pass on the lane side and pedestrians on the building side. The city has completed at least 11 sections.

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According to a post-trial questionnaire survey conducted by the Transportation Department, 85% of the public said they understood the purpose of the diversion markings, and about 60% believed that diversions can help reduce conflicts between people and vehicles and improve safety. This shows that these markings have an important identification function and are fundamental to the operation of the entire set of diversion design.

However, Chen Yijie went to the second section of Zhongcheng Road to check and found that instead of one or two patterns fading, the white lines on many street profiles were worn out, and arrows and pedestrian and vehicle icons were blurred and difficult to distinguish. Some icons even had only sporadic white paint marks left. Large sections of the dotted line that originally served as the boundary between people and vehicles also disappeared, resulting in almost no visual guidance for pedestrians and bicycles to follow when actually passing.

Chen Yijie said that the diversion markings can make the public understand and feel safe, but when the markings are worn and cannot be recognized, the public will be at a loss. Opposite this road section is the Tianmu Baseball Stadium, and is surrounded by Tianmu Sports Park, Taipei City University Tianmu Campus and multiple sports facilities. On weekdays, residents, students, sports people and cyclists communicate. When professional baseball and large-scale events are held, a large number of fans and pedestrians will pour in in a short period of time. Safety cannot be ignored.

Chen Yijie also said that according to the data, these diversion markings were constructed in 2024 and have already shown such obvious wear and tear in about 2 years. The city government should review and improve the durability of the paint, the wear and tear repainting schedule and maintenance standards to prevent the diversion markings from becoming "ghost markings" on the ground, which compromises the good intentions of the policy.

She called for the severely worn pedestrian and vehicle separation markings on the second section of Zhongcheng Road to be immediately repainted, and to conduct an inventory of all pedestrian and vehicle separation sections in the North City to avoid similar problems in other places. She also called for the review and establishment of regular inspection and identification standards for pedestrian and vehicle separation markings, as well as the wear resistance of existing paints on floor tiles, to turn passivity into initiative.