4 hours Ago
I spent three days in Portland last month and was surprised by the condition of the nice-looking, but treacherous, brick sidewalks in the old part of your city. I’m 87 but very mobile and was able to navigate by watching carefully for the hills and valleys of the walkways. But I thought they would be extremely difficult for my friends with canes, or limited sight, to walk on.
And impossible for any person using a wheelchair. In fact, I only saw two people with wheelchairs and both were riding in the streets. I was especially struck by the sidewalk’s condition because in February I spent three weeks in the state of Bad-Wurttemberg, Germany, seeing mainly small towns and some cities that had many brick sidewalks that were all flat and even.
None of them had slopes or wrinkles. Also, like Portland’s sidewalks, all, or many, of these were not cemented in. Ruth Selby is a resident of Brooklyn, New York.
My son, who lived in one of the small towns for several years, said that they were able to take up these bricks if repairs had to be made to pipes or whatever else is below them, and then reset. He observed this being done in his neighborhood and said that in replacing the bricks, first a layer of gravel was laid over the ground base, then a layer of sand and then the bricks. I believe Portland leaves out the gravel layer; several of the new-looking sidewalks in which the bricks were sliding downhill looked like they were just on the sand.
My idea was to contact Portland organizations for the disabled that might be interested in pushing for better sidewalks, but I must be asking the wrong questions on Google. I saw your 2015 article about sidewalk complaints , so I’ll tell you readers what I found out. I tried to find out what the German specifications are for brick sidewalks and could not find anything except sites for construction companies that build the walks.
I can’t find any American directions either. I’m sure there are some. I did find a New Jersey training guide for making ADA-compliant sidewalks with pictures that show bricks being used.
Of course, they would only include pictures of good sidewalks but could be contacted for more information. That would be an American contact. My thought is that if a small German city can have good brick sidewalks, certainly Portland, with more than 5 million visitors a year, can do it.
Another thought is that if there are still vocational high schools and this bricklaying is a new technique here, it could be a good course that would have immediate application in Portland and other cities in the U.S. I must also say, I really enjoyed my time in Portland and other parts of Maine.
Besides the beautiful scenery and interesting history, I met many wonderful, friendly people. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website.
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