Several other cities have looked at the possibility of restoring several of their brick streets. The benefits include restoring the character of the neighborhood/street, creating a historical feel, increased home values, increased vacant property values, slowed traffic, long term savings, and several benefits of the drainage of water. This is something I would like to see the city of Cleveland look into.

 

I started thinking about this because of two streets, Jay Avenue in Ohio City and Random Road in Little Italy. The reason is because there are currently large potholes on both of these streets that expose the brick underneath, which seem to be in good condition. I believe I saw this same thing on East 9th, but it has since been filled in. These brick streets were paved over because at the time, the city wanted faster, newer, smoother street surfaces, and I wouldn't doubt there was some deal with asphalt companies as well, but I have no evidence on that.

 

Here is a good example of what we have all over the city, although this particular picture is not in Cleveland.

 

 

Here are some good articles and examples of how and where this has been done.

 

Shows the process

http://www.smoothroads.com/psi/brick-street-restor.html

 

Orlando

http://www.cityoforlando.net/public_works/esd/admin/pdf/BrickStreetBrochure.pdf

 

"Costs for brick street restoration range from $13 to $17 per square foot, while asphalt repaving costs $5 to $10 per square foot"

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-07-17/news/0607170099_1_brick-streets-asphalt-paved

Cleveland used to have some sort of restoration program, that I believe was used on Murray Hill Road. 

I'm sure somebody will come up with a better answer, but the only restoration i recall the city having was specific for the bicentennial when they restored many, many streets. I just cannot recall what the criteria was

 

It might also be worth contacting the Cleveland Restoration Society about.  They may have had a hand in it or know something about it.   

This is something I'd like to see on W.69th in the old Italian neighborhood.

I wish to join your Pro-brick lobby immediately.

 

Where do I sign up?

This is a great idea.

 

Last summer I was all excited when they tore all of the asphalt from W 106th off Clifton and exposed all the bricks below. The street looked beautiful. They put up one of those "your tax dollar at work signs". Then came a new coating of asphalt. The street looks terrible now again. What a waste. Judging from that project in Cleveland, it's not terribly difficult to remove old asphalt and in this example was actually needed to re-asphalt it again. Perhaps the city could actually save money in the long haul for their re-asphalting projects by just getting the job half done!

 

 

Reminder: The Lot 45 project is eliminating a functioning brick street in E.117.

I would also point out that people tend to drive slower on brick streets, and they do a better job of handling stormwater (compared to asphalt). In my corner of town the streets the city never got around to paving back in the day look far better than the asphalt ones.

 

Start a Facebook group!

Reminder: The Lot 45 project is eliminating a functioning brick street in E.117.

 

This could be a good thing if done right. The renderings show a complete elimination of this section of E.117th. So its not like the street is being paved over, or torn up and replaced with cement.

 

Those bricks could be salvaged and used to pave other streets at a cheaper cost. Also, if a street like Jay in Ohio City has its Asphalt overlay removed, and bricks restored, the salvaged bricks from E.117th can be used to replaced any of the bricks that are damaged or destroyed.

 

Unfortunately the city will most likely do neither.

 

Start a Facebook group!

 

Good idea! Working on it!

Just threw this together real fast. Please feel free to suggest name changes, description/about changes, and any other changes you would like to see. Also that picture is just a placeholder. I would love to see actual examples of cleveland streets, so you guys living by a good example, feel free to go out and take a picture of it, such as Jay or Random road. ;)

 

Again everything there is mostly just a placeholder so please feel free to make suggestions!

 

Almost forgot the link! :)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restore-Clevelands-Brick-Streets/235594859870568

Question (since I'm not a bike rider): How accessible are brick roads to bicyclists?  Considering the amount of abuse my car takes on the few brick roads around Little Italy and Cleveland Heights, I can't imagine it's much fun trying to ride a bike on those roads.

Sounds like a nice idea for kickstarter too...maybe start by identifying a small test street, determining costs for that, and growing from there

Some thoughts:

 

The brick pavement under the asphalt may not be all in good condition, especially if there has been utility work where the brick street was cut and not restored. There may also be old streetcar rails.

 

Brick pavement is noisier than asphalt pavement. Most road noise comes from the contact between automobile tires and the pavement.

 

Brick pavement is tough on bicycles. Bicycle riders may start riding on the sidewalk for the smoother ride, though riding on the sidewalk is illegal in Ohio.

 

Automobiles tend to drive more slowly on brick pavement. While many consider this a good thing, it may slow down traffic on busy streets, and require signals to be adjusted.

 

Brick avement can facilitate drainage because some of the rain water seeps between the bricks, alleiviating the need for storm sewers and reducing combined sewer overflows.

 

Brick pavement cost more to build, but last longer than asphalt pavement.

Im not sure I believe that major streets should be brick because im not sure if that is practical, but I do believe that there are many benefits of restoring brick streets that are covered with asphalt, but are in good condition and are low to medium traffic residential streets. Jay Avenue is a perfect example in my opinion. It would greatly add to the character of the street.

 

I dont think I would go as far as to say Euclid Avenue or Superior should be restored though, and besides, im almost positive any remaining bricks of Euclid Avenue were removed during the Euclid Corridor Project and Im not sure if there are any under Superior.

 

One of the larger streets, although thinner, that I think would be interesting is Lorain Avenue, from West 25th to West 44th, if bricks are still present. I think that it could help drive development on the street and increase property values greatly.

Also possibly West 25th from Detroit Avenue down to Chatham. Honestly I think Ohio City is a great place for it in general.

I think the idea/effort/cause is in need of a catchy name....

I think the idea/effort/cause is in need of a catchy name....

 

Im open to name changes and description changes! I hope people suggest things. I view everything on there as a placeholder for now. I do hope for pictures of actual Cleveland streets with brick exposed.

Here are some examples of Cleveland streets with brick, and actually if you just browse through Cleveland on satellite view, they are a dime a dozen!

 

http://g.co/maps/6c7hr

 

edit, the formatting for street view doesn't embed correctly.

 

^ Thanks for sharing. After looking around that area, I have to admit I am pleasantly surprised on how charming Fischer Avenue is with its brick street, and brick houses that are surprisingly not bland and suburban like I thought they would be.

 

http://g.co/maps/pr6w9

 

http://g.co/maps/qvq2c

Lakewood ground down the asphalt on my street a few years ago to reveal the gorgeous brick underneath.  Sadly, it was recovered in asphalt again.  I LOVE brick streets.  I took as many photos of the brick as a could, and often think wish they could have just left the brick exposed.

Here's another little hidden gem downtown. East 18th street north of Lakeside Avenue is still stone/cobblestone.

 

http://g.co/maps/7s7st

Lakewood ground down the asphalt on my street a few years ago to reveal the gorgeous brick underneath.  Sadly, it was recovered in asphalt again.  I LOVE brick streets.  I took as many photos of the brick as a could, and often think wish they could have just left the brick exposed.

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! Looks to be in good condition as well. Just a little cleaning and it would be good to go. Its unfortunate they recovered it.

 

Here's another little hidden gem downtown. East 18th street north of Lakeside Avenue is still stone/cobblestone.

 

http://g.co/maps/7s7st

 

Thanks for sharing! I never knew this existed. Looks like East 16th street right next to it is still original as well.

Some thoughts:

 

Brick pavement is noisier than asphalt pavement. Most road noise comes from the contact between automobile tires and the pavement.

 

Trust me, as a cyclist I appreciate the extra road noise!

Hopefully this works!

 

Rinard Road in Cleveland Heights:

 

http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.509465,-81.683822&spn=0.002971,0.004592&t=k&layer=c&cbll=41.509465,-81.683822&panoid=UXTAtzsXV5hdi3IJ7NNFtg&cbp=12,333.58,,0,30.28&z=18

 

Radnor Road, also in Cleveland Heights:

 

http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.509465,-81.683822&spn=0.002971,0.004592&t=k&layer=c&cbll=41.509465,-81.683822&panoid=UXTAtzsXV5hdi3IJ7NNFtg&cbp=12,333.58,,0,30.28&z=18

Brick pavement is tough on bicycles. Bicycle riders may start riding on the sidewalk for the smoother ride, though riding on the sidewalk is illegal in Ohio.

In Ohio it is legal to ride on the sidewalk. It's somewhat unsafe as drivers don't look for you there, but it is legal. See ORC 4511.711. However, the city has outlawed bikes on sidewalks "within a business district". So if you're talking about exposing bricks on a side street or in a residential neighborhood, there wouldn't be a legal problem if cyclists decided to use the sidewalk instead. (I looked this up last summer after I got yelled at by a cop for riding on the sidewalk to get around a traffic backup.)

^Right.  You have to walk your bike through a business district (or ride in the street), but otherwise... riding on the sidewalk is fair game and I do it all the time.  The thickness of your tires and whether or not you have shocks makes a big difference in terms of comfort for riding on bricks.

 

I love brick streets, but am weary about the City having too many.  When they get ugly and start filling them in with non-brick material, it looks real bad IMO.  They also are more slippery in the winter.

 

 

I know several cities have bans paving over brick streets with other materials. I was wondering if anything like this existed in Cleveland. I would guess no. When was the last one covered up?

 

Is East 13th south of Carnegie cobblestone?

Brick streets are not bike-friendly. I used to live on Murray Hill Rd and used to bike a lot.

Brick streets aren't bad for bikes if they're well maintained.  The problem is that they no longer maintain them here in Cleveland- they either leave them to disintegrate, or they cover them with asphault.

Since the last two post were so factual sounding, let me state my fact:

 

Nothing negative can be found in any brick street in any climate anywhere in the world.... period. 

 

A little off-topic, but if you want to see something really cool, check out Hessler Court (next to Hessler Road, which is a brick road) basically on the campus of CWRU.  I've driven on it a few times in recent years (mostly at night I guess) and always just thought it was brick without looking too closely at it, but a week or so back when I got out of my car and walked on it I realized that it was wood block!  And it's still in pretty decent shape, too.  Any other wood block streets in Greater Cleveland?

^ Im pretty sure its the only one. It would be cool if there was another.