NewUrbanStreets

Historic street brick have been reused in the newly re-programed, re-built and opened Market Square Park. The history and art in the previous incarnation was preserved and expanded while adding a lot more to do.

In my opinion the key to a long-life concrete or brick unit paver surface–assuming the foundation structure is properly built–is re-sanding. As discussed in other articles at this blog the sand is the “glue” that “locks” the individual pavers together.

During the eight years of street reconstruction in downtown Houston Texas we found many historic street bricks that paved the early streets of Houston in the mid-1800s. The City’s policy was to save the bricks for use in future projects. Two projects have been identified and so there was a need to sort the stored bricks and finally return some of them to service.

During the street reconstruction/reconfiguration era (1998 to 2008) In downtown Houston we added concrete unit paver crosswalks at many intersections. The colors and patterns were selected to support an identity to the location and correlate with the various districts: i.e. the Theater District; the Skyline District, etc. They clearly define the area of the crosswalk but their installation and maintenance is challenging. This article will highlight several of the situations you want to avoid if you install similar crosswalks.

This fountain symbolizes the meandering bayous of the Houston area with their rising and falling water levels. The water from the adjacent pump/water treatment vault streams up a hole in the center of the large center stone. From the center channels are carved in winding paths and the water flows to the edge where the water runs down the rough side of the stone, through a grate and into the collection trench around the perimeter of the large stone. The water in the trench flows by gravity to the wet well that is part of the pump/water treatment vault.

The stone covered sidewalk around the center stone extend out around stone benches. The sidewalk stone has shallow wandering “bayous” continuing out from the center stone. The “bayou’s” bottoms are stained black. The fountain is circled by Mexican Sycamore trees found along the bayous in Houston.

On Prairie Street in downtown Houston (map) the Cotswold Project added art in the widened sidewalk areas and one of the installations uses puzzle shapes with sandblasted artist created patterns. There are several aspects to this installation–and more than a few lessons–you may find interesting. The process we experienced–the challenges and the rewards–are enumerated below.