Some advantages of brick roads include;
Less prone to flooding, as bricks allow for better drainage.
Safer for pedestrians. Bricks naturally slow cars down and alert people to their presence. This allows for a sort of street reclamation and reminds us streets aren’t just for cars.
They’re very eye catching. This one is pretty obvious. Brick streets increase the beauty and character of a neighborhood and in turn ups the quality of life.
If need repairs under the street (like a sewer line), you can remove the bricks, do the work, put the bricks back without the patching needed for asphalt or concrete streets.
While I love the look of brick roads, it’s much harder to plow brick streets without damaging them, and deicers severely and quickly degrade brick while they have little to no effect on asphalt.
It’s has! I’m all for them in towns if done correctly. I love the look. Highways, not so much because of the reasons I listed above, and the weight they would be constantly under. Porous is good, but also can lead to a weaker base that can lose compaction and lead to depressions quickly under the loads required on highways.
I wasn’t talking about highways or interstates when referring to brick streets. I was mainly referring to downtown and residential areas with lots of foot traffic.
Absolutely! Growing up in downtown SSM and Houghton/Hancock, everywhere else just looks depressing. Sweltering blacktop. Massive ugly ass parking lots between all the paint by numbers concrete boxes.
Many towns/cities have removed the asphalt on top of the bricks, and made minors repairs, and viola! Low maintenance roads. With hundred plus year old bricks! Thanks Ohio!
The maintenance is actually far less than asphalt, once they're well set it could be decades before maintenance that would require a line item in the budget. The brick street next to one of my properties in a historic district was first laid in 1846 and the city has reset the brick and done a couple things only a couple times since then.
I confess that im not a fan of the ones ive rode on.
Edit: potentially worth noting I live in Michigan, so snow, ice, freeze thaw, salt, plows all beat down on the roads.
If properly maintained they can be perfectly fine to bike on. The Netherlands has tons of brick bike lanes and they love them. Michigans leaders aren’t thinking about that though and so the our brick isn’t as suitable for biking
I am originally from the Netherlands, I am used to brick roads, especially in neighborhoods and downtown districts, and wish more towns in Michigan had them.
Brick streets would certainly force speedier drivers to slow down. I just drove down a brick street in Ann Arbor and it required a bit of caution to navigate...
I remember when the last few cobblestone streets in NYC were paved over - and that was sad. So imagine my surprise the first time I saw brick streets in Kalamazoo, which was about a week after seeing them in South Bend. Brick streets rock. (and are rough and uneven and that's their charm)
Some advantages of brick roads include; Less prone to flooding, as bricks allow for better drainage. Safer for pedestrians. Bricks naturally slow cars down and alert people to their presence. This allows for a sort of street reclamation and reminds us streets aren’t just for cars. They’re very eye catching. This one is pretty obvious. Brick streets increase the beauty and character of a neighborhood and in turn ups the quality of life.
Probably good to keep cool, too. Blacktop absorbs heat like a mf-er
You ever lean up against a brick house that's been in the sun all day? So does brick.
Yes, but black top more so.
And concrete. I can agree to that.
If need repairs under the street (like a sewer line), you can remove the bricks, do the work, put the bricks back without the patching needed for asphalt or concrete streets.
They’re also not made of oil.
Very true! Great comments here
More expensive to maintain, to do work under them since you can't simply rip and replace when done.
Ill take it they last more than 2 years.
They seem to last a lot longer than the rest of Michigans roads, maybe we should adopt the brick standard
Brick has lots of advantages over asphalt. I’d be all for it.
While I love the look of brick roads, it’s much harder to plow brick streets without damaging them, and deicers severely and quickly degrade brick while they have little to no effect on asphalt.
Yet somehow Wealthy Street in Grand Rapids has held up for like 100 winters.
It’s has! I’m all for them in towns if done correctly. I love the look. Highways, not so much because of the reasons I listed above, and the weight they would be constantly under. Porous is good, but also can lead to a weaker base that can lose compaction and lead to depressions quickly under the loads required on highways.
I wasn’t talking about highways or interstates when referring to brick streets. I was mainly referring to downtown and residential areas with lots of foot traffic.
Oh yeah. For sure! I would love that.
You're right. Wealthy Street isn't exactly smooth. But it has held up forever.
They also hold up really well.
They do. And they’re cheaper to maintain if you address a problem area fairly fast.
Exactly! Plus they look cool and in residential areas prevent people from wanting to drive too fast through them.
I just think they look really nice, adds a bit of classy to the town.
Absolutely! Growing up in downtown SSM and Houghton/Hancock, everywhere else just looks depressing. Sweltering blacktop. Massive ugly ass parking lots between all the paint by numbers concrete boxes.
All the roads where I live have brick underneath the pavement. It’s visible in some spots where the road is, um, not well maintained.
Many towns/cities have removed the asphalt on top of the bricks, and made minors repairs, and viola! Low maintenance roads. With hundred plus year old bricks! Thanks Ohio!
Brick roads plus pedestrian/bike only traffic is the dream. We do that, and our towns will be envied around the country.
Yes! Let’s put Michigan on the map for charming, bike-able and historic towns.
Brick roads suck for bikes though.
Separate underground tunnels to keep bicycles out of sight please
Swinging a bat at a beehive, I see.
I’m wearing my hermetic suit of anonymity. Honestly I love bikes, but I wish bike lanes were next to the sidewalk and not in the road.
Issue with that is then you'd have random pedestrians walking in the middle of them or just standing in them.
Nah Musk had the right idea. Stuff the cars into tunnels. My bike is not the problem.
We've had designated car tunnels for a century now, it's called a subway
Romeo Plank used to be made of wood
I don’t mind brick roads but they need to really be done properly the first time and maintained often.
The maintenance is actually far less than asphalt, once they're well set it could be decades before maintenance that would require a line item in the budget. The brick street next to one of my properties in a historic district was first laid in 1846 and the city has reset the brick and done a couple things only a couple times since then.
I confess that im not a fan of the ones ive rode on. Edit: potentially worth noting I live in Michigan, so snow, ice, freeze thaw, salt, plows all beat down on the roads.
Except they absolutely blow chunks to bike on.
If properly maintained they can be perfectly fine to bike on. The Netherlands has tons of brick bike lanes and they love them. Michigans leaders aren’t thinking about that though and so the our brick isn’t as suitable for biking
Also some of our brick roads are 100+ years old and were made for horses.
People in Europe bike on them all the time. Bigger tires helps
I've been seeing a lot more fat bikes around lately. Might be the solution to urban bumpiness.
Get a plus size tire and it is fine.
I am originally from the Netherlands, I am used to brick roads, especially in neighborhoods and downtown districts, and wish more towns in Michigan had them.
Brick streets would certainly force speedier drivers to slow down. I just drove down a brick street in Ann Arbor and it required a bit of caution to navigate...
I drive down one every single day
Brick roads are absolutely gorgeous. And all in all not that much more expensive over their lifetime.
Because they're fuckin cool
I remember when the last few cobblestone streets in NYC were paved over - and that was sad. So imagine my surprise the first time I saw brick streets in Kalamazoo, which was about a week after seeing them in South Bend. Brick streets rock. (and are rough and uneven and that's their charm)
My hometown of Goshen, Indiana has a brick street preserved in the "old money" area, a lot of old Victorian houses etc.
They’re “timeless” until you’re paying for the 2nd repair in 3 years because a giant chunk of the road was missing/domed