Recently, there was a meeting at Crosslands about how “wayfinding” problems might be resolved. I was fortunate enough to attend, and I’m excited that there will be a similar meeting at Kendal. KCC has hired a consultant who will help with wayfinding at both Crosslands and Kendal.

You’ll be able to participate in the Kendal wayfinding meeting, date TBD, by emailing Roy Manno (rmanno@kendal-crosslands.org) to sign up. Meanwhile, to give you a flavor of the issues involved, here are a few notes about the Crosslands meeting.

The lost ambulance. The meeting began with a description of an incident in October 2024 that brought the wayfinding issue to the fore at Crosslands. A resident had a medical emergency and called for an ambulance. The ambulance arrived, but didn’t know to make an immediate left turn upon entering the campus (which was required to reach the cottage where the resident lived). Small print on 9th line of the sign near the entrance indicated the cottage numbers to the left, but the driver missed it.

Having passed that corner, there was no signage indicating where the cottage in question was. It was evening, and the front desk was closed. After some aimless driving, the ambulance pulled over to the side of the road. Fortunately, a KCC bus was passing and noticed the ambulance. The bus driver pulled over, asked where the ambulance needed to go, and led the ambulance to the cottage. The resident was treated and recovered.

At the time, Crosslands resident Warren Gifford was leading a class on “Mobility and Transportation”. The ambulance incident caused the focus of that class to shift to issues of signage and wayfinding at Crosslands.

It turned out that there were many ways signage could be improved. Campus maps could also be made better. The instructions given by some GPS systems were wrong. Parking in the correct lot and then finding cottages and apartments on foot could be difficult, and the right signage could make it easier.

At the recent Crosslands meeting, residents presented many of the issues arising from Warren’s class to the wayfinding consultant, John Bozio of Merje (merjedesign.com). There will be additional meetings at Crosslands to discuss possible solutions to all of these problems. Once the options are discussed, Merje will provide full-size mockups of signs that can be taken out and viewed at the locations where permanent signage is being proposed.

Kendal has wayfinding problems too—maybe worse ones. Like Crosslands, Kendal’s entrance drive also requires a quick initial decision at a fork in the road. Slowing there to read the signs is to invite rear-ending by a following vehicle.

Multiple signs, small print.  Which way do I turn?

At Crosslands, the sign for a given parking lot lists the specific range of cottage or apartment numbers served by that lot. That’s not practical here, so drivers need to know in advance the lot number they’re heading for. Furthermore, getting from the parking lot to the right cottage can be much harder here. And if you end up in a parking lot that is not close to the cottage you’re looking for, the limited cottage-number signage won’t help you. Every Kendal resident who has been here more than a few months has encountered visitors and delivery people who are lost.

Wayfinding inside the Kendal Center could be improved, too.

Want to help fix these (and other) problems? Email Roy to sign up for the Kendal wayfinding meeting.