Pulling up ratty – or even nice – carpeting to get to the character of the hardwood floors beneath is common practice in Chicagoland homes and apartments. Now some suburbs, including Wilmette and Forest Park, are considering the same treatment for brick streets paved over with asphalt, according to a story in today’s Chicago Tribune.
Apart from the character of brick streets, residents seem to like the fact that this surface forces drivers to slow down, or seek alternate routes. Sort of like a thousand little speed bumps but without the unsightly asphalt mounds. If the goal of street design is to deter drivers (not to mention bicyclists), why not take it a step further and revert to gravel or dirt? Hell, why have roads at all when we could all enjoy the character of a nice grassy trail?
Whatever the drawbacks to resurrecting brick streets, they’re preferable to the fake brick that’s been created by stamping and painting asphalt crosswalks in Andersonville. The cutesy crosswalks looked cheap from the get-go and now that the red has faded and the asphalt is showing through, they have all the character of a weedy parking lot outside a closed Stuckey’s on a third-rate Nebraska highway.
Miles of Chicago streets, including several blocks of Ravenswood Avenue just south of Wilson, are still brick. Click on “Comments” below to highlight other examples and we’ll send you a gold brick – of the Andersonville variety.