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Dubious sidewalk repair on Broad Street
By Melissa G.
Church Hill residents need to check out the “fine” work done by the City in repairing the broken and uneven sidewalks on the 3300 block of East Broad.
The sidewalks are poured concrete on this block. The city “fixed” the problem areas using patches of black tar-based asphalt! Is this some kind of joke or was someone looking to unload some asphalt from a nearby road paving job? It looks nasty not to mention completely ridiculous. And, why is it that just around the corner, brick sidewalks are being painstakingly repaired and replaced when ours was merely patched with asphalt and not actually repaired?
Moreover, this is an Old and Historic District where residents are required to abide by both City and CAR guidelines and restrictions when making improvements to the exteriors of their homes. What is the point of these protocols if the City is allowed to take shortcuts like dumping black tar on our sidewalks? The City needs to be held to the same aesthetic standards and requirements as its residents.
Neighbors please join us in speaking out on this. It’s a blight on the entire neighborhood.
Guest written by Melissa G. Have something that you’d like to see published?
TAGGED: Broad Street
Words do not start who do I call in the morning?
I AGREE
eds – I would start with public works. I’m not sure if they do sidewalks or not, but if not, surely they can direct you to who does sidewalks. You can call 311, or the direct line there is 646-0999. Work through the prompts and get to where you get a human, hopefully Miss Witcher, I’ve spoken to her several times about other stuff and she was helpful.
This is nasty looking, I’d hate to walk on it on a hot day, or have my dog walk on it and track the stuff inside.
Also, wasn’t the city supposed to put brick sidewalks in when doing repairs inside and Old and Historic District? I can’t remember where I read that, but I thought they were supposed to use brick. Could be wrong on that one, but you might try that out and see if you get corrected.
Also, when you get someone down there, direct them to this site and pictures while you are on the phone with them. I have had really good luck with getting people to understand what I was calling about when they could look at the same picture that I was looking at.
Good luck, eds – and do post and update us!
eds, better yet, go all the way to the top and call Dexter White, director of public works. His phone is 646-6430.
I’m cutting and pasting something from the thread on this blog about the asphalt that the city put on the cobblestones on 23rd St. back in June –
#46 SEW: “Did the road need repairs? Yes…however, it should have been done correcrtly with the proper materials: At the East End charrette, Director of Public Works Dexter White and Capital Projects Administrator M. Khara went on record as being very careful in the city’s historic districts to make repairs using the same materials only.”
I’ll be on the phone in the morning too.
You should see the 3 foot wide VERY long hideous matching blacktop patch they ran down 33rd street off of Broad, ugh
I completely agree….that patch work is ridiculous! Thanks for posting this…
Has anyone seen the road resurfacing on S Street? It’s in worse condition now than before the repaving.
A few years back, I had an similar asphalt patch on my sidewalk. The city told me “asphalt is meant for temporary repairs only.” The city eventually did come back and replace the entire sidewalk.
In this recent case on Broad St, they may have used the asphalt as a quick fix to make it safer for pedestrians while the block waits in the cue for the real sidewalk crew to come out and do it right.
Dexter White left the city about two months ago. His interim replacement is Letitia Shelton, same number.
Unacceptable.
Here’s someone to call: Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille: Office:(804)646-3012, Liaison: Samuel Patterson (804)646-3012 Sam.Patterson@Richmondgov.com
That’s how they repaired our sidewalks here in Fulton. And we have few sidewalks to speak of. Most people walk in the middle of the street.
I will add that the black tar on our sidewalk has been there for several years. Not temporary, by any means.
LOL – are you serious?!
Um, can I just suggest that everyone calm down a notch here. Yes it looks a bit ugly right now but that ashpalt will fade over time and the contrast with the light concrete will subside. There are hundreds of miles of sidewalk in the city and many of them have been broken or become uneven due to the wonderful old trees that provide so much shade. If the city replaced every section of slightly misaligned or vertically dislodged concrete sidewalk, they would basically be replacing all the sidewalks in the city. It would be prohibitively expensive. Go walk around the Fan, or nearly any other old city neighborhood with great trees, and you’ll see similar patch jobs. So unless we all intend to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes to replace all our sidewalks, we need to have a little perspective on this issue. The other option is to just cut down all our great street trees, but I suspect most folks wouldn’t like that. I would hardly say this patch job is “blight on the entire neighborhood”. Is it the most aesthetically pleasing work, no. Does it make the sidewalk safer at reasonable cost, yes.
Catch the channel 8 news at 6 pm tonight (Thurs. 9/23). A cameraman was by this morning after picking up the story on CHPN!
#16 Since when is the Fan an Historic District. I too would start with Ms. Newbille! (804)646-3012
@Michael – The Fan is a Federal Historic District. What Fred is missing is that the St.John’s area is a City Old and Historic District, with a more restrictive set of regulations.
Re: 16 (Fred) – If the City wants to ensure the aesthetic integrity of an Old & Historic neighborhood by requiring residents submit plans for approval (to them and CAR) prior to making any property/land improvements visible to the street, they should be held to the same standards as the ones being imposed on residents.
Well, I called the city this morning and complained. Can’t wait to walk the dog over the nice new asphalt in the afternoon heat…perhaps I’ll walk her in the street up to the next block, where the sidewalks were repaired appropriately just a month or so ago.
I know that area is a City Old and Historic District with specific regulations by City ordinance that are different that the National Historic Register Districts. That wasn’t really my point, though. I just think some folks are getting all worked up over a very minor aesthetic issue. For god sakes people are being murdered in Church Hill, there are tons of vacant, dilapidated houses and you’re going to chew the City’s ear off over this. I’d save my energy and political capital for more critical issues if I were you. Oh and it figures channel 8 would come by. What a joke of a news organization.
To me this is a question of standards.
Other cities are more innovative and come up with alternative solutions. For example, when it comes to tree roots, they try rubber sidewalks made from old tires that can bend and adjust to roots better than concrete.
I like to think that Richmond has made some progress in this respect. I am encouraged by things like the partnership with EarthAid.net (hey John M., does Church Hill have an EarthAid.net group yet?). I am hoping that the City adopt something like Chicago’s Green Alleys program.
But make no mistake about it, the City has wasted millions on ill-conceived ‘investments’ like the Broad Street CDA and Center Stage that will put a damper on its budget for years to come. These mistakes cost the City other opportunities to addess real problems in the neighborhoods where its citizens live.
I urge citizens to hold the City to high standards and don’t give up. If you want brick, demand brick, (but also let the City try new things like rubber sidewalks as well). Tell the City you would rather keep clay dirt sidewalks until it can afford to put in brick if all they offer now is concrete and removed trees. Its your City!
#23 Amen…
Okay, I just spoke to Jan Person in Public Works (646-6430). She has been trying all morning to find out what caused this; apparently she cannot find a work order for it. (I wasn’t the first person to call.) She finally found out that supposedly the permanent repair will be made in November, but is unsure if that means they will tear up and replace with cement or just what the permanent repair consists of.
Meanwhile, she also said that Channel 8 had been in touch with the public relations director for the Dept. of Public Works!
I also sent her an email with a link to this thread as well as the thread from back in June about the asphalt on cobblestones on 23rd St. as Mr. White had said that he would have that removed, in an email to SEW, but it has not been.
Marvin Williams is the deputy director of operations for public works. His email is marvin.williams@richmondgov.com.
Jan Person was really helpful, said she will forward all comments to the appropriate people at the city. I got the sense that she was really trying to help.
A year ago I also complained about a similar concrete sidewalk that people were tripping over in front of a friend’s house on Kensington. They made the same asphalt patch and it is also still there, never replaced.
More and more of this kind of thinking and shoddy repair is being done by the city since they “contract out” the work. And then waste money by sending 5 trucks with a dozen people to replace 2 bricks in a sidewalk. A 10-minute repair stretched out over an hour while everyone just sits around in the trucks. Your tax dollars at work!
I just received a call from Anthony Harding, Facilities Maintenance manager for the city. He explained that this is a temporary fix intended to immediately alleviate the tripping hazard the substantial cracks and uneven cement had created. The permanent repair will happen in a month or so and will be poured cement. The problems are being caused by tree roots. When the permanent repairs are made, the Dept of Forestries will evaluate whether various methods to deal with the roots are viable. It is possible some trees, like the one in front of my house, will have be removed. Interestingly, the city is trying out rubber sidewalks and installed two: one in the west end and one on south side. Because the rubber sidewalks are substanitally more expensive to install, the city is evaluating how well they wear over time.
More expensive initially but over a period of 50-100 years, how many “fixes” or replacement concrete slabs will be necessary… a wash in bottom line pricing or come out ahead over time?
I go out in my neighborhood and take pictures of odd things for http://www.ByrdPark.net and no body comments (come take a look). Pretty sure we have tons of those asphalt patches on the sidewalk. May have to follow your lead on this one.
jason #29, I was in the fan this afternoon and could find only one such patch, near Kensington and Boulevard. It also looked really old, very gray and worn, so it had to have been there over a year. I admit I didn’t not do a comprehensive search, as I was on my way to a particular place, so perhaps you can find many more between the fan and Byrd Park.
crd #30 That must have been in front of my late friends house on the corner of Kesington and Mulberry, one block from the Boulevard? I had to call several times for him to get it done and we were all surprised to see the asphalt and as you noticed, has been there for a long time. No “temporary” fix.
I’ve seen this type of repairs all over. It does look pretty bad. It looks particularly noticeable right now because of the contrast between the dark and light. Maybe sprinkling some dust like dry cement mix on it will help?
The big problem is that the sidewalk cutout for the tree is about five times too small. The sidewalk should never have been built so close to a tree that large, or a smaller tree type should have been selected.
Thicker reinforced concrete with a deep gravel based should have been used. It costs more, but you don’t have to repair it every few years.
And if you think this sidewalk is bad, look at Leigh Street between 27th and 31st streets.
A good link on this subject: http://hort.ufl.edu/woody/urbansidewalk.shtml
Eric #31, yes I think that’s where it was!
Something Absolutely needs to get done though, having the sidewalk in such chaos is a MENACE. I was walking to the store when I was forced to walk INTO THE STREET briefly. It is outrageous that they are delaying so long on this. How long will they let us be so unsafe? I appreciate all the calls being made on our behalf and hope that Public Works will get off their behinds and get this thing resolved.
I haven’t seen this sidewalk repair yet but plan on doing a thorough analysis of it this evening. I appreciate all the concern and calls already put into the department of public utilities. Once I assess the situation you can be sure my voice will be heard!
#35 R_Metcalf – Did you have to walk into the street bc the sidewalk did not appear safe/level or did you not want all that blacktop on your shoes? It’s my understanding this repair was done to repair the uneven sidewalk.
Jeb, thanks for your concern. I had to walk into the street that tar looked filthy. Crd said that her dog tracked in all that soot into her house, that poor pup, I can only imagine. That mess was especially frustrating to me because I had recently had surgery on my knee and have enough trouble getting around already!
This is right around the corner from me, and while slightly hazardous at night I think it’s more of an eyesore than anything. I mean, if the city can’t maintain the aesthetics of Broad Street right by the park, then what luck will other less prominent streets have? Oh right, try driving down Marshall Street without hitting potholes.
Actually it’s more than slightly hazardous, though the hazard may not be so obvious. While cleaning up the mess of loose asphalt on the sidewalk, my partner discovered that the access to our gas line and to our neighbor’s water had both been covered by the asphalt.
On a related note, I drove down 26th today. *That* is absurd. It’s like a group of four-year-olds highjacked a road crew’s equipment and has been driving aimlessly around Church Hill, looking for things to “fix.”
Also, with the recent street paving, they are just paving right down the middle of the streets leaving both sides untouched. They are also wasting money repaving some streets that do not need need it. Are these people getting paid by the mile?
In 1995, in response to my request, the city asphalt crew performed the same repair in front of 2816/18 E Broad, with one difference: they mixed concrete dust with the asphalt to make it appear gray. The repair person stated, ” this makes it look nicer “. 15 years later, it’s still there. The gap has gotten much worse due to root growth and is a considerable safety hazard. Ironically, the asphalt/concrete increases the risk.
#39,
I’ve been wondering when someone would comment on the recent street “paving.” There are several spots where they just paved around parked cars. My drive to work down P st is now bumpier than it was. Aesthetically, it looks horrible, even the few streets that are totally paved. I’m at a loss as to why they did this, and why they did it so poorly.
My block (3300 of P) was paved one afternoon last week. A few minutes after I got home from work a police officer knocked on my door and asked me to move my car. He said my block wasn’t scheduled to be paved that day, but the guys had some extra time. I complied, but my roomate wasn’t home at the time so they paved around his car.
“Asphalt on concrete” is what was on the sidewalk beside my house @ Chimbo and N when I moved in 2 years ago and it was determined to be a pedestrian hazard because the asphalt was popping up. It was repaired about a month ago…correctly and tree wells were enlarged to add trees. How could this one be done so poorly?????
#17 Chimbo Resident, did channel 8 actually run the story? Can you provide a link to it?
I post this to bump this thread back up due to the other thread titled ‘Stripe’ about the stupid stripe of asphalt running down 26th Street from a line just north of East Marshall St. I’ve never seen anything so absurd. It seems the city has gone wild with misplaced asphalt…are they just trying to lay it down anywhere and everywhere?! Sidewalks, middle of the street, on top of cobblestones on 23rd St. between Grace and Franklin, and other streets?
@crd-Yes, Channel 8 ran the story. I don’t think I ever saw it on their website, but it may still be living on my DVR.
This is just a guess, but maybe the work was going to be done in two phases: one phase for the middle of the street and the second phase for the sections closer to the curb. They completed the middle of the street on my block while cars were still parked there, while also requesting (via posted notification) that cars be removed by 8 AM the following day, which I assume was so that they could complete the second phase. However, it rained that day, so maybe they couldn’t do it even though all cars had moved, and now they have to reschedule and provide the required advance notice (probably a week’s notice) via the posted signs to residents living on these streets. Again, just a guess.