Goodbye, bricks. Hello, stamped concrete.
Continued deterioration of the brick crosswalks at the intersection of Stewart Parkway and South Respess Street prompted the Washington City Council to award an $8,750 contract to replace the brick crosswalks with stamped concrete crosswalks.
The contract, awarded to Harry Lee’s Landscaping of Nashville, also calls for removing and disposing of the existing crosswalk materials. The contractor has committed to completing the project before the Summer Festival begins June 10.
Several months ago, Allen Lewis, the city’s public-works director, advised the council the brick crosswalks were deteriorating. Lewis said the deterioration, at least in part, was likely caused by water seeping under the breaks, collecting under the bricks and expanding as it froze during winter months, along with the water eroding the foundation under the bricks, causing the bricks to move. Vehicle traffic over the crosswalks didn’t help that situation, he said.
As part of the replacement process, a die will be used to stamp fresh concrete so that when it sets it resembles bricks arranged in a pattern. Often, color agents are added to the concrete so it better replicates the appearance of bricks.
In other business, the council endorsed the nomination of the proposed North Market Street Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places.
“The National Register is the nation’s official list of historic buildings, districts, archeological sites, and other resources worthy of preservation,” reads a memorandum from John Rodman, the city’s director of planning and development, to the council and mayor. “Listing a property on the National Register places no obligation of restriction on a private owner using private resources to maintain or alter their property. Owners of private property nominated to the NR have an opportunity to concur or object to the listing.”
In 2008-2009, Washington sponsored a comprehensive survey of historic structures throughout the city, except for the existing downtown historic district. The nomination application is a result of that study.
The study was partly funded by the State Historic Preservation Office.
Many structures identified in the survey are located along a section of the North Market Street corridor north of Sixth Street, with that corridor stretching up to several blocks on either side of North Market Street.
Inclusion of structures in the target area on the list could be a precursor to establishing a second historic district in the city. Property owners in historic districts usually face some restrictions on uses of their properties, Rodman said.
For another historic district to be created in the city, such action would have to take place at the local level, starting with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, Rodman said in 2009.