SEQUIM — George Peabody is about to become a hero for those who walk or work in downtown Sequim.
Peabody, Lakeside Industries’ area manager in Port Angeles, is about to have his crew remove the golf-course-colored surfacing from the 19 crosswalks on and around Washington Street.
By Oct. 1, he’ll replace the green stuff, called Tyregrip, with StreetPrint, asphalt made to look like bricks in a herringbone pattern.
The green crosswalks went in two summers ago, and back then they were brighter than bright, Peabody said.
Sadly, like a summer fling, “they faded really fast.”
Peabody expects it’ll take about a week sometime during September to remove the green coating and resurface the crosswalks.
He’ll do the work for free, saving the city roughly $50,000, said Public Works Director James Bay.
In 2004, Bay and Peabody together selected Tyregrip, after the manufacturer told them the material would stand up to Sequim’s weather and traffic levels.
“After only 30 days, the Tyregrip started coming apart,” Bay acknowledged.
To right the wrongs
This summer, after Bay had tried to get the Tyregrip company to take responsibility for the faded crosswalks — to no avail — Peabody offered to right the wrongs.
Lakeside “could stand there and argue” over whose fault all of this was. Instead, “they’re stepping up,” Bay said.
Tyregrip, which Bay said is rock that’s been crushed, treated and dyed, cost $44.62 per square yard.
The colored crosswalks were part of a $7 million downtown revitalization effort that included new curbs, gutters, sidewalks, storm drains and landscaping — including controversial concrete planters in the center of Washington Street that were eventually removed to make it easier for emergency vehicles to pass.