It’s time for downtown Silver Spring’s brick-covered sidewalks to hit the road, according to a resolution dropped on the county council Tuesday.
“Given that the uneven surface of brick pavers limits access to public spaces and increases the risk of falls for people with disabilities, this plan is simply a matter of common sense,” said council member Nancy Floreen (D-At large), who introduced the idea at the council’s weekly meeting.
At least five other council members have her back on this one, according to a press statement.
Under the proposal, brick pavers would be out of the public right of way. Pavers may still be used along edges and as decorative elements. Projects approved before Feb 24, 2009, as well as private homes, would be exempt.
The county’s Commission on People with Disabilities have complained that people with limited mobility find brick pavers a bitch to navigate. The pavers also create barriers for sight-impaired people, the commission said.
“This denies people with disabilities access to many places of entertainment, shopping and activities of daily life,” Jackie Simon, a commission member, said in a press statement. “A community that excludes even one of its members is no community at all.”
The county’s transportation department admits the brick pavers are trickier and more expensive to maintain than concrete or asphalt. But Patricia Shepherd, with the department’s division of transportation engineering, said ditching them entirely for something else would rub out a signature look for downtown Silver Spring.
“We wouldn’t have those special places like we do today,” she told Silver Spring’s pedestrian-safety committee Wednesday night.
The county council’s transportation committee works out the issue on Mar 9, 2009, in Rockville.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Daquella Manera.
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I hate those things, and I don’t have a disability. Somehow, those sidewalks get black-ice slippery when nothing else is. It manages to negate any positive effects my yoga class had when I have to navigate those in order to get home afterwards.
I wish the county was as vigilante with drivers who run red lights at the intersections of Georgia Avenue/Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue/Fenton Street (and anywhere else for that matter in downtown Silver Spring) as they are with this brick issue. This continued endangerment to pedestrians is a far more serious issue.
Council member Nancy Floreen said: “The plan is simply a matter of common sense”.
HA! It’s more like a matter of nonsense.
Anyone who believes that switching to “safer” concrete will make these problems magically go away doesn’t know much about pouring or maintaining concrete. Even the best poured concrete will crack–soon and often. Add in the mix the likelihood of the actual quality of low-bid contractor work, our freeze-thaw cycles, de-icers, tree roots, etc. and we’ll soon have plenty of tripping hazards all over the place.
This is a classic case of government trying to fix a problem and the cure costs vastly more than the cost of the disease (sorry for the the poor health analogy).
And with all the redevelopment going on in downtown SS, we’ll soon have an irregular patchwork quilt of pavers, plain concrete, pavers, concrete with paver accents, pavers, concrete. Really classy.
Jerry: I work a few blocks from that intersection and walk through there almost every day. The county needs to be equally vigilant about ticketing pedestrians who endager their own lives by not obeying traffic signals. Drivers deserve a lot of the blame, but half the problem is the pedestrians.
I have to agree with Woodsider. I don’t understand what is so hard about crossing AT the crosswalk or waiting the extra 30 seconds for the WALK sign. And don’t get me started on the adults who absent mindedly cross whenever and wherever they please with kids in tow. aarrrgghh!
I’m with Lucy–those sidewalks are the WORST during ice storms. During the ice storm last year that happened on the day of the 2008 primary, I literally had to crawl on my hands and knees across the brick sidewalks of Silver Spring in order to vote at the M-NCPPC building.
Editor’s note: This person’s screen name has been modified. — JD (Feb 27, 2009)
Lucy & Woodsider,
The WORST place for pedestrians to cross in downtown Silver Spring is from the sw corner of Colesville & Georgia (next to the Discovery Building) across Georgia to the se corner next to the Silver Spring Shopping Center.
The pedestrian light indicates that it is time to walk and at least a HALF A DOZEN VEHICLES…EVRYTIME…making the left turn from Colesville onto Georgia to go south shoot thru the intersection because THEY don’t want to have to wait until the next green light (for them).
Also, the fact that pedestrians have like 19 seconds to cross doesn’t help matters. Bricks are the least of my concern.
Oh, no one is saying that drivers are saints! But if I am crossing a street, I use common sense, and fully realize that I will not win in a fight with a ton of steel. You won’t see me doing the “Oh they see me, they can wait!” purposely slooooow walk. As for the brick sidewalks, isn’t there some way to just fill in the grooves appropriately with some sort of sand or grouting compound that can be easily maintained?
Woodsider, I don’t think this is primarily a maintenance issue. Those brick walks are harder to navigate even when they are in good condition. Concrete is easier to walk on, even if it has some cracking. The bricks are slightly uneven, even when in “like new” condition, and — as Lucy said — they get slippery so easily it’s ridiculous. I regularly have a hard time walking on the sidewalk on the corner of Wayne and Fenton because of slippery conditions, on days where there are no problems on any other sidewalk or road in the county. The last time I actually expressed surprise to my companion that they haven’t had someone fall and sue yet.
I agree with Nancy Floreen. The attractive appearance isn’t worth the safety hazard.
And how much would it cost to replace all the pavers? … in a time when the county budget is a disaster area? I like the pavers, but if they have to go, I hope it can be done over an extended period when major sidewalk renovations would be needed anyway. The problem isn’t significant enough to justify ripping out the current sidewalks and replacing them when we don’t even have the money to do more important things.
Are there any stats that support this? Actual reports of injury? More than anecdotal stories of people NOT using bricked walkways because of the risk?
I don’t want to sound callous to people who may well have a real problem with the pavers, but this seems like another case of a small, vocal group implementing change with little real analysis.
Thank you Chaz.
I heard those bricks are defective — either made or laid improperly. They were supposed to be rougher. And they ooze water long after rain has stopped. They totally creep me out, and I am able-bodied. If there were a way to tamp/sand them down so they are even, and then rough them up, the problem would be solved.
Chaz: Thank you from me, too….show me the stats
Woodside Park Bob: They aren’t talking about ripping out all the old pavers, but requiring new development/renovations to adhere to the new rules. That’s why we’ll have not only a visually unattractive streetscape, but a bunch of short strips of “easier to walk-on” concrete.
Surely there are far more important issues for our elected officials to spend their time and our taxes on!
I can tell you that the bricks along East-West Hwy and Colesville are very unsafe in wet and icy conditions. If you don’t have good skid resistant shoes, you will be slipping and sliding all over the sidewalk. Yes, the bricks are more aesthetically appealing from an urban design perspective; we should also consider the expenses of physical injury when someone slips and falls on the brick material.
btw…I have witnessed plenty of people taking spills in winter conditions on those brick sidewalks. Safety First.
maybe the county can save some money and tear down all those old brick buildings in silver spring and recycle the bricks in the sidewalks and cover all of downtown. put the falklands to a good second use!
Al,
And you probably thought your comment was clever…
Editor’s note: Play nice. — JD (Mar 1, 2009)
Concrete is ugly, and it’s not going to magically make ice safe.
I slipped a little this morning. Poetic justice? :)
See what I mean, Chaz. I had to walk on snow-covered grass and pavement so I wouldn’t fall on my ass on the brick sidewalks this morning.
i agree with ihateyuppies, the financial liability of knowingly maintaining dangerous sidewalks has to be factored into the cost analysis.
i personally don’t care about statistics of how many people have gotten injured. i know that i, a relatively able-bodied person, don’t feel safe. i don’t want to be the person who gets injured to create the statistic, and i don’t wish that on someone else either. if the sidewalks are dangerous, we should fix them BEFORE someone gets hurt, not wait until a certain number of people get hurt. and sue the county.
While taking a walk today along Colesville and Fenton, I observed the brick pavers in the sidewalk. There is no uniformity in the brick pavers that is being used. They come in different shapes, sizes, colors and textures. Also, the brick pavers on the northeast corner of Colesville and EW Highway do seem to be particularly slick.
The streetscaping along Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road is primarily the old Type A standard which utilized concrete unipavers. New streetscape guidelines were adopted in 1992; they prescribed a new Type B streetscape standard that utilized Belden bricks in a different pattern. This is what you will see on most of the streets in Silver Spring. (Note: For a brief time, a substitute had to be used for the Belden brick after the manufacturer’s kiln blew up; it was similar but not identical.)
After hearing anecdotally about slipperiness on the Belden bricks, M-NCPPC staff asked the manufacturer a year ago to modify their process for wire cutting the bricks to address the concern. The new Belden bricks should have a slightly rougher texture and be less slippery.
Glenn Kreger
Acting Chief, Vision Division
M-NCPPC