The City of Barrie is working to improve the city’s wayfinding system, with the help of the city’s residents, to include signage and similar directional tools to help citizens and visitors identify where they are, find what they are looking for, and confirm they have arrived at their desired destination.
The City of Barrie, Ont. is working to improve the city’s wayfinding system, with the help of the city’s residents, to include signage and similar directional tools to help citizens and visitors identify where they are, find what they are looking for, and confirm they have arrived at their desired destination.
Phase one of the project focuses on the downtown and waterfront areas, and it will form the template for a city-wide design for tourism destinations throughout the city.
The city is asking residents to provide feedback about their experience navigating Barrie’s downtown and waterfront using the existing signage to find parking and access specific destinations.
The city is working with Tourism Barrie and the Downtown Barrie Business Improvement Area (BIA) on the wayfinding strategy and will be engaging with local businesses and residents.
Improving Barrie’s wayfinding system was identified as a key action item as part of the City of Barrie’s 2020 Tourism Master Plan. Pre-COVID, tourism supported more than 1000 businesses and almost 12,000 jobs in Barrie and area and contributed approximately $56.8 million annually to the Barrie economy.
Existing wayfinding signage.
Wayfinding was also documented in Invest Barrie’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Action Plan and the 2020 Parking Strategy as recommendations to attract patrons to the downtown.
Residents are encouraged to provide their feedback through an online survey available at BuildingBarrie.ca/WayfindingStrategy. The deadline for feedback is Thursday, April 14.
