Annapolis, Md. recently re-paved many of the streets in the Historic District with brick.
		By Tim Dillon, USAT

Residents liked the old surface so much that the city decided to repave the street with the bricks. And the new pavement was so popular that many residents demanded brick streets in their neighborhoods. They even agreed to pay two-thirds of the cost of removing the asphalt from their blocks and re-laying the old bricks. Residents of four more blocks hope their streets will be redone in the next fiscal year.

In an era of more and faster cars and when commuting time is of essence, preserving or even re-laying streets with bumpy bricks seems out of place. But with the growth of cookie-cutter suburbs and strip malls, cities are trying to reduce sameness and make themselves more attractive by etching an identity in brick.

"There is a romantic appeal that people find attractive because it is different," says Dan Marriott of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Brick streets are "on a scale that people appreciate."

Winter Park's brick restoration program is one of the most extensive in the country, but the city is not alone in its effort to preserve or bring back a method of paving that had all but disappeared during the last half century. Exactly how many towns and cities are returning to brick streets isn't known. But the trend seems to be going on in all parts of the country:

• Champaign, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa, are among dozens of cities that ban paving over brick streets with other materials. Both cities spend nearly $100,000 a year to maintain brick streets.

• City officials in Cumberland, Md., plan to expand preservation of its brick streets to another 6 square miles. The city already protects brick streets within its historic downtown neighborhood.

• The city of Brooksville, Fla., is removing pavement to expose long forgotten brick streets. To keep the cost of exposing the city's 2 miles of uncovered brick streets low, the city uses prison labor, public works director Emory Pierce says.

• Amarillo, Texas, has spent $200,000 already to restore one block of brick street. The city plans to restore part of another later this year, says city engineer Michael Smith.

• In Blair, Neb., city officials have shelved a proposal to pave over the city's dilapidated brick streets with asphalt after some of the 7,500 citizens urged them to keep the old surface for historical purposes.

Brick streets aren't just about public policy. Preservationists in Blair, lead tours of historic neighborhoods. In Pauls Valley, Okla., residents celebrate the city's old brick streets with an annual "Brickfest."

The growing interest in brick streets has spawned a new wave in urban and suburban design and, in some cases, helped boost local economies. Architects and builders now market the "main street" of old American towns, designing new developments and in reviving the appearance of older cities. Cleveland, Tampa and Annapolis, Md., have turned to brick streets in an attempt to rejuvenate neglected downtown areas. Architects say that they are using bricks in new open-air shopping centers that are designed to replicate the feel of old downtowns.

To keep up with the demand, a few companies have begun making clay and even concrete bricks that match the quality and style of old pavers. Winter Park goes to one of the companies, Pine Hall Brick in Winston-Salem, N.C., when it comes up short. Pine Hall makes bricks to match the ones laid in the city during the 1920s.

A handful of suppliers, like John Gavin, stick to the old bricks. His Historical Bricks Inc. of Iowa City scours dumps across the country for bricks. Gavin says he's shipped bricks everywhere from the Caribbean to Long Island to Beverly Hills. "And we're proud to say 40 to 50 million pounds have been reclaimed in three years," he says.

Most brick roads were built around the turn of the 20th century. They made for a less dusty ride for passengers in Model-T Fords. But by the 1950s, concrete and asphalt had largely replaced brick roads because they made for a smoother ride. Brick thoroughfares were often paved over.

The return to brick streets can be costly. They can more than triple the price of asphalt — or more. Winter Park paid 14 times the cost of asphalt, or about $7 a square foot, to redo its main street with brick.

Rod Storm, Blair's city administrator, worries that the city won't be able to afford maintenance on the brick pavement. "Budgets are tight. Funds are short. What things are you going to be able to preserve?" he says.

But some cities say the cost is worth it.

"They last. With a little repair they'll go another 100 years," says Eric Schallert, senior engineer in the Davenport, Iowa, Public Works department.

Brick streets last about 50 years, and repairs can be done by replacing only damaged bricks. Concrete has a similar life span but is more prone to potholes. Asphalt roads require resurfacing about every 15 years.

Advocates of brick streets also say that brick streets tend to slow speeding traffic and enhance property values.

In smaller towns that have smaller budgets, it's not so easy to do what Winter Park has done. Nor are there so always so many brick enthusiasts.

Bedford, Ohio, however, chose to keep its brick streets after two preservationists proved that the town could save money in maintenance over the long haul.

Earlier this year, many of the approximately 900 residents of Davenport, Okla., were up in arms when they learned that the town was seeking a state grant to pave over the bricks on their main street. A showdown was averted, town clerk Sue Osborne says, when the money for the project dried up.

Losing the bricks would have cost Davenport its identity, says Paula Sporleder, principal of the elementary school. "Without those streets, we're just another little town losing businesses and dying like every other place around here," she says.