Decorative bricks are an attractive addition to downtown sidewalks, until they’re dug up and replaced with asphalt.

One of the ways to add colour and texture to drab urban streetscapes is to fill sections of sidewalk with brick, similar to cobblestone surfaces that were common before asphalt and concrete came into widespread use.

It looks great, but the bricks — also known as pavers or paving stones — are often removed for some reason or other and replaced with asphalt as a quick and easy substitute.

It makes people wonder if a utility contractor that had to dig up the sidewalk was allowed to get away with a cheap alternative to putting back the bricks, and why they were used in the first place.

That’s the situation at the southeast corner of Bay and College Sts., where large sections of brick were removed earlier this year and replaced with patchy asphalt that sticks out like a sore thumb.

Peter Sharp sent us a note and photo of the patching, saying “it’s a sad fact that throughout the city we can see evidence of wasteful practices in road and sidewalk maintenance.

He accurately described the bricks as “for benefit of appearance or ease of future maintenance, or both,” adding that “when it comes to repairs the city is at odds with itself.

“Digging up (bricks) has to be cheaper and easier than bringing in front end loaders and cutting concrete. Putting them back should be common sense but here as in many cases the holes are filled with road tar.

“Why cannot the original (bricks) be put back? Why pay for the bricks in the first place if they are not going to be retained for their full benefit? Planning and maintenance need to get it together and stop wasting resources and our money.”

STATUS: One of the main reasons and biggest shortcomings of decorative brick is that they become uneven over time, often due to frost heaving in late winter and spring. The uneven surface can trip up pedestrians, which the city says is why the bricks were removed at Bay and College.

Transportation services spokesperson Hakeem Muhammad stressed in an email that “city crews replace brick pavers whenever possible.” The city received “a few complaints — one of them concerning a personal injury — that the brick surface was uneven, posing a safety hazard for pedestrians. Crews attempted to repair the uneven surface multiple times but the pavers kept on shifting because the foundation underneath is not stable enough. The only alternative to resolve the issue quickly and eliminate any safety hazard was to remove the pavers and put in asphalt. Please note this is only a temporary fix. Staff are exploring new (and green) long-term solutions for this and other similar areas.”

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