Monday, May 08, 2006
Roll Call: Exposed Aggregate Sidewalks for H?
DDOT is considering (based on community imput) using exposed aggregate as the new material for sidewalks on H Street when they are replaced as part of the streetscape project scheduled to begin this fall. If you have a subscription to Roll Call, you can read an article about the possible use of the material here. Some consideration to keep in mind (in no particular order): durability/maintenance, attractiveness, comfort (can you walk on it/push a stroller/wheelchair on it for a long time comfortably), safety (e.g. can you walk it safely in high heels). Thanks to everybody that alerted me to this article.
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11 comments:
Why not brick walkways? Looks much nicer.
I was thinking about this subject yesterday while taking some out-of-town guests around the area of Eastern Market. Over there they have the brick sidewalks but there are definite questions about safety and comfort (not for me but I could see how pushing strollers would be difficult and definitely how an elderly person might trip and fall). Often trees have pushed the bricks up.
I Googled exposed aggregate and it looks like there are all types so it all depends on what they choose...
while brick is a great material, it seems like it might be a poor choice for an area with (soon to be ) many bars and the possibility of litter.
clean-up wouldnt be so easy.
DC won't pay for full brick sidewalks. Also, bricks are hard to maintain.
And there are tons of people who often get injured from trips over the brick sidewalks that always start raising up as the tree roots grow out. Although I love the brick sidewalks, boy can they be tricky.
It's interesting that DC won't pay for brick sidewalks on H Street given that they seem to be replacing the brick sidewalks (some in pretty good shape) throughout Capitol Hill
I think the reason the bricks are going in on Capitol Hill is that it's a historic district whereas H Street is outside the historic district.
Chris
Irony is that many buildings on H street and Maryland Ave are a heck of lot older than houses on most of the streets on "Historic" capitol hill. Only a few house very close to the Capitol are any more "historic" than your own. The CHHS district was a real estate agent's creation.
More than a few. While houses around H st. can date back as far as the 1880's, the Jenkins Hill was a neighborhood as far back as the early 18th Century. While not many of those houses survived, a fair amount date back to early 19th.
Brick is better for trees...maybe for us too, because we have to slow down on them.
Installing brick might not be as much of a problem on H St. as it is on the older brick sidewalks along 7th St. at Eastern Market because last I heard, DDOT was to install some kind of a root tunnel system to control the direction of root growth. Of course, controlling roots is probably easier said than done.
I raised the brick issue with Karina Ricks over 6 months ago. If I remember correctly, cost and durability were the main factors.
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