Bricks on Michigan Ave

[Tractor75]

How about the new brick road around Campus Martius? Bricks coming back into style? Even white bricks for the lines.

[Ray1936]

Add Wight and Guoin Streets between Joseph Campau and Chene both to the list! Wight actually has an old streetcar line running down it too, I think....or maybe that's Woodbridge...I don't remember.

The tracks on Wight street were railroad tracks, not trolley. Spur from the tracks that came down the Dequindre cut; served the warehouses in that area.

[Pcm]

The tracks on Wight street were railroad tracks, not trolley. Spur from the tracks that came down the Dequindre cut; served the warehouses in that area.

The stretch of Wight between Mt Elliot and Iron gets some asphalt thrown on it every year and makes it WORSE to drive on. But it's still an absolutely beautiful sight, looking down from my loft window over a brick street with train tracks still running through it, then to a beautiful park, Coast Guard, and Detroit River.

I've flirted with the idea of restoring that stretch of Wight St. It's really remarkable. So many textures there.

[kathy2trips]

Brick is a great and durable surface for a street. The problem with brick is that it is porous and allows water to get down into the subgrade of the street. If you could find a durable [[to the friction of car tires) and transparent [[so you could see the bricks, it would be ideal for urban streets and their atmosphere. The problem is that the best and most durable sealer is a layer of asphalt.

.

Here is a photo of New Brick Streets, built in Sugar Land Town Center in Texas. Note that Sugar Land is a big 7 miles above sea level. YES, using 21st Century technology, new brick streets CAN BE DONE!

[Gistok]

BTW... paving bricks are NOT the same as house bricks... as anyone who has ever tried making a walkway or patio with house bricks will know.... big mistake! They flake off, crumble and fall apart after only a few years of Michigan winters, although house bricks last what seems like forever when attached to the walls of an "occupied" structure.

[Rocko]

Ray, you're right, the Wight street rails were GTW/railroad spur coming from the Dequindre Cut. There was a streetcar loop down there someplace though....I'm hunting around for the map that I saw it on.

Retroit, the brick along Woodward may have been put down to help designate parking areas...kind of like curb painting. Just an educated guess on my part, looking at some hi-res Shorpy images and thinking about Woodward in my head. Good thinking that these were installed during the widening...I bet you are correct.

Gistok makes a good point, road pavers are different that house bricks. Although house bricks from the era [[pre WWII are a closer match to street paving bricks, they are not the same.

[kathy2trips]

Perhaps some of that $223 million from the Feds could be used to repair the brick streets in reclaimable 'hoods, but I'm not holding my breath.

[ptero]

What about:

http://detroit1701.org/West%20Canfield_Hist.htm

I agree w/ RickBeall that the current cobblestone job on West Canfield was installed [[not uncovered). They also changed the alignment a bit, incldg adding the bits of median, when the 1980's cobblestone job was done, some 10 years after the historic designation, I believe. I lived there when it was a simple straight two-way asphalt street in 1974-'75-'76.

I remember something about the Association pressing the city to finally close the hooker bar around the corner, Anderson's Gardens, before agreeing to the cobblestone and the building of the condos off the Lodge Freeway end of the street. Was it both? or just one? Anyway, they leveraged the city over at least one of those projects.

I love brick and cobblestone, it's just not original.

[DetroitHabitater]

looks like we need a big version of this thing

http://inhabitat.com/amazing-brick-m...s-like-carpet/

[Brock7]

A few years back when they were resurfacing Gratiot, I was waiting for a bus near Mack where a couple of lanes up to the curb had been scraped down to the brick, they didn't look to have held up so well - I couldn't find a piece larger than 1"x1½"x1" to take as a souvenir.

[Pcm]

looks like we need a big version of this thing

http://inhabitat.com/amazing-brick-m...s-like-carpet/

Oh man! That thing is incredible!

[Patrick]

Indian Village and other wealthier areas had wooden blocks on the streets to muffle the sound. But hey, when you talk about age you can't forget to mention the old Roman Roads.

[Rocko]

Attachment 7848
Here's a recent photo of a brick sidestreet in Detroit. It sees very little traffic, but is in really good shape.

Brick pavers were laid on most Detroit roads 100 or more years ago. In many places, they continue to exist beneath asphalt pavement. They hold up well despite the elements, and can withstand the expansion/contraction of freeze-thaw much better than concrete or asphalt. They also aren't so prone to becoming potholes, so long as the sub-grade is maintained. Portions which have become unlevel, such as some spots on Michigan Avenue around the old site of Tiger Stadium, can be easily removed, have the sub-grade relaid and leveled, and the bricks put back down on the top, filled in, and tamped, and the road is better. Really not all that complicated. But both the city and MDOT are fine with throwing down some more cheap asphalt down which has to be replaced every three years, rather than fronting a little money to fix the situation for the next few decades [[or more).

They can give me some tools, some orange barrels and pay me a decent wage, and I'll do the work for them. I have experience and could use a job.....

[Rocko]

PCM: The stretch of Wight between Mt Elliot and Iron gets some asphalt thrown on it every year and makes it WORSE to drive on. But it's still an absolutely beautiful sight, looking down from my loft window over a brick street with train tracks still running through it, then to a beautiful park, Coast Guard, and Detroit River.

I've flirted with the idea of restoring that stretch of Wight St. It's really remarkable. So many textures there.

You let me know when you want to get started, PCM.

Attachment 7850

[CLAUDE G]

I know there is bricks all along Van Dyke.

A few years ago they repaved the entire street and it exposed all the old paver bricks and trolly tracks.

I talked to one of the construction workers, and I think the cost was an extra 3 million dollars to remove all the trolly tracks from Van Dyke, so instead the state just decided to cover them up again.

[HazenPingree]

When the city was doing repaving on the West/East streets in Woodbridge, they ground the streets down to the brick under layer. Because they took so long to repave the streets, for a brief moment, being naive, I thought that the city was intending to restore the brick cross streets - until they paved over them with asphalt.

[CLAUDE G]

Look at it this way, the bricks provide a good base for the asphalt.

If they had laid concrete 110 years ago, they would have had to pull up the entire street and replace everything, instead of being able to get away with a cheap resurfacing job.

[Pcm]

You let me know when you want to get started, PCM.

Attachment 7850

Rocko, you've reignited my interest in this project.

Do ya'll think that this would even be possible?

I mean, if a project like the Green Alley can come to fruition, I'd think that restoring a small stretch of street in front of a beautiful park would also be possible.

[Magnatomicflux]

Rocko, you've reignited my interest in this project.

Do ya'll think that this would even be possible?

I mean, if a project like the Green Alley can come to fruition, I'd think that restoring a small stretch of street in front of a beautiful park would also be possible.

Funny, I was just looking at that area yesterday on streetview, wondering if the rails were still in the ground, and what a historical shame it would be to remove them, plus I think it's such a neat sight to see! I think it would be possible, and it would make people curious about what used to be. The tracks that lead to the park and just end just tickle the imagination.
I think it would be something to seriously pursue PCM. If you do, the very best of luck to you. It's 100% worth saving.

[Pcm]

Thanks for the support, Magna. If the time ever comes, are you prepared to pick up a shovel and help??

I knew I wasn't the only one who appreciates little details of this city like Wight Street. "Texture" is always something I mention when people ask me why I live here. Wight Street is a perfect example of the kind of "texture" that makes me want to stay here. If that makes any sense at all...

[canuck]

Cobblestones fort the most part in the old days were made of granite, so very hard and non porous. Then in the seventies, paving stones or bricks were made of compressed concrete. This is the stuff
you see on city streets pedestrian walkways and driveways. They are not as tough as the old stones but pretty hard still.

[Magnatomicflux]

Thanks for the support, Magna. If the time ever comes, are you prepared to pick up a shovel and help??

I knew I wasn't the only one who appreciates little details of this city like Wight Street. "Texture" is always something I mention when people ask me why I live here. Wight Street is a perfect example of the kind of "texture" that makes me want to stay here. If that makes any sense at all...

Provided I get off my ass and get my passport already? Absolutly. Man....I reeeeallly need to get my passport lol I get excited just looking at brick roads, to be able to help preseve one, plus railway history, would be an honour.

[stasu1213]

What about the street one block south of Jefferson that streches from Rivard to MacDougall? I think it is Franklin or Woodbridge. That street is brick. I used to take pics of Marlborough street while standing in the middle of it looking southward. I wanted to include the brick street in the center, the homes on both sides, and the canopy that the trees lined on both sides of the street form over the brick street.

[Pcm]

Provided I get off my ass and get my passport already? Absolutly. Man....I reeeeallly need to get my passport lol I get excited just looking at brick roads, to be able to help preseve one, plus railway history, would be an honour.

Not to get ahead of myself, but I've spoken with a consultant about this project. If anyone knows how to move forward, it will be this person.

[Magnatomicflux]

You know, I may have gotten a little ahead of myself......myself. I have my own local preservation thing going on here in the form of 2 ex- Essex Terminal Railroad engines from the 40's, and one from somewhere in the states built in the 50's.

I dunno how much time I can devote to both projects.

.......sorry Pcm. If things work out and time allows for both, I'm still willing.