O O Ø O O O O
Progress Underfoot
Once upon a time, the sidewalk at 17th Avenue featured a regular pattern of inlaid bricks.
Around 2004, Western Canada High School made the savvy decision to remove the hedges along the sidewalk in front of their property. They put up a tidy metal fence, but filled in the setback with stamped asphalt.
Nowadays, whenever work is done on a segment of sidewalk on 17th Ave, the replacement material of choice is tinted, stamped concrete.
Why? Because tinted, stamped concrete is the only material the City of Calgary will approve for use on a sidewalk.
Why? Not because it’s the only material suitable for sidewalks, but because it’s the only material they’ve contracted with the various utilities to require them to replace if they have to dig up a portion of the walk.
In other words, because it’s the cheapest.
Perhaps this is just as well. Should design discretion be given to those responsible for the following relationships between stamped concrete and tree grates.
Trees optional, of course.
These second-rate exhibits are on display daily between the 400 and 800 blocks of the most relevant pedestrian street in Calgary.
Evan Spence
January 8, 2008
OOØOOOODCCCLV
January 16th, 2008 at 5:53 am
So it’s not just being done in Fredericton?