Downtown Fort McMurray Wayfinding Plan

On April 25, 2023 the Downtown Fort McMurray Wayfinding Plan was approved as information by Council. The municipality would like to thank passionate residents, stakeholders, and Indigenous partners for being a part of the decision making process. 

To view the plan click here. The downtown was the region’s first wayfinding plan guided by the Wood Buffalo Wayfinding Strategy. 

What is the Downtown Fort McMurray Wayfinding Plan?

The Plan will support navigational needs, community identity, and tourism in Fort McMurray’s downtown and waterfront area. With the help of public engagement the Plan developed a landmark hierarchy, sign types, and sign locations (sign plotting) for the downtown.  In addition to presenting the locations and content for wayfinding signs and elements, this document provides insight into how the procedures to develop the Plan were implemented.

Wood Buffalo Wayfinding Strategy 

On February 28, 2023 the Wood Buffalo Wayfinding Strategy was adopted by Council as an overarching document for the entire region. 

What is Wayfinding?

Wayfinding is a series of visual cues to help someone understand where they are and where they are going. The cues can include signs, banners, public art, landmarks or historic buildings, colour systems, and lighting. All these elements work together to create a cohesive system to aid in orientation, navigation, and contribute to a sense of place.

What is the purpose?

The Wood Buffalo Wayfinding Strategy provides foundational elements for wayfinding in the region including guiding principles, recommendations and considerations, and sign designs. The Strategy provides an approach for developing wayfinding plans, including directional signage, in Wood Buffalo communities and neighbourhoods.

Guiding Principles

Five guiding principles were developed to guide regional wayfinding projects.

1: Celebrate Wood Buffalo 

Banners, illustrations, and signs reflect and celebrate the diverse character of the region.

 2: Connect people to places

Directional signs provide vehicular and pedestrian route connections between important destinations and promote safe, active travel. 

 3: Consider pedestrian needs

Wayfinding signage provides direction to pedestrians and people using alternative modes of transportation such as bicycles and mobility scooters.

 4: Ensure consistency

The visual identity used in the wayfinding program is consistent across the region through use of RMWB brand elements including typefaces, colour scheme, and materials.

 5: Wayfinding is for all

Wayfinding includes fonts in sizes and colours that users can read, universal icons, and place names in Cree and Dene languages.

Sign Family 

The sign family is a coordinated set of sign types that work together to create a visually cohesive wayfinding system. Each sign type has a specific purpose and audience. Each wayfinding plan will include the signs needed for wayfinding based on destinations, target audience, and routing.

The Strategy includes an approach that the municipality can follow to help Wood Buffalo communities and neighbourhoods develop future wayfinding plans. Best practices are included to provide guidance through the process.

Public Engagement 

Extensive public engagement was conducted through several phases with targeted objectives. Phase 1 gained feedback on priorities, downtown destinations, design, culture and identity. Phase 2 gained feedback on sign family prototypes, typography, color palette, iconography, destination hierarchy, and abbreviations. To review engagement feedback reference the What We Heard Reports:  

• Phase 1 What We Heard Report
• Phase 2 What We Heard Report