Odd Road Surfaces Still In Existence

[thenetwork]

This one just popped into my mind on the way home from work.

Do you have any roads in your area with unusual or rare surfaces?  It may sound like a strange question, but in Cleveland, OH (near University Circle) there is a one block stretch of road that is made of wood!!!  Wood Blocks, that is, and it is the last remaining wooden street in Cleveland (or Northeast Ohio, AFAIK).

Google Map View:  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=University+Circle,+East+115th+Street,+Cleveland,+OH&hl=en&ll=41.510825,-81.605846&spn=0.000422,0.000817&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.953203,107.138672&oq=university+circle&hq=University+Circle,+East+115th+Street,+Cleveland,+OH&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=41.510825,-81.605846&panoid=V606LwpKsnjXsGS3RqMpfw&cbp=12,303.52,,0,15.21

Article on Hessler Court:  http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=HRAHCHD


And in nearby Akron, Ohio, there is a street in which there is a combination of regular red brick pavers and raised granite stones on Bates Street, in the shadows of Downtown Akron, affectionately known as Bates Hill or Cadillac Hill.  The "washboard effect" was used for traction on this super-steep hill.  One of the most bone-jarring hills you'll ever traverse!

Google Map View: http://g.co/maps/f7ktg

Info on Cadillac (Bates) Hill here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.376451397046.163941.93203972046&l=eab2994f72

Any other unusual street surfaces?

[bulldog1979]

The City of Marquette, Michigan, has gravel streets in some neighborhoods not far from the campus of Northern Michigan University. They will be paved in the near future now that the city has agreed to assume the cost of improvement instead of special direct property tax assessments against the adjacent property owners.

Traverse City, Michigan, has several brick streets including blocks of Sixth, Seventh and Eighth streets south of downtown. As a kid, Cheboygan, Michigan, would have to lift the bricks used to pave the northernmost block of Main Street each winter. They'd reset them in the spring after the frost left the ground. I do believe that they finally paved the street in asphalt though.

[1995hoo]

Prince Street in Old Town Alexandria has one block paved with brick and then the next block after that is cobblestone. When we were kids we'd demand that my mom drive down the cobblestone street whenever we were there. Now I avoid that block. I rather doubt that stretch of cobblestones dates back to George Washington's time, but who knows. Some of the buildings date back to that period.

Street View of cobblestones (it's bumpier than it looks): http://g.co/maps/wy5z5

[agentsteel53]

the A4 autobahn in western Poland, coming out of Germany just north of Gorlitz, D and Zgorzelec, PL, has not been modified or maintained since 1943 (!) and has the original cobblestone offramps (!!)

I call it the Secret Nazi Autobahn.  it's kinda terrifying, as the speed limit is 50 km/h.  the completely mangled concrete of the mainline should also count as an odd road surface, for sure!

[Brian556]

Hill County Road 4281 (OLD US 81) near Hillsboro, Texas. This section was bypassed sometime after 1940..can't nail down the exact date due to lack of availible maps. Some portions of the concrete road have been patched or overlaid with gravel. Some sections have grass growing in them even though the road is still open and in use.

[Mapmikey]

North Carolina still has 3 rural brick sections of road, two of which are still public road and the third is driveable:

old US 17 north of New Bern - http://www.vahighways.com/ncannex/route-log/us017.html

old NC 10 (Beaman Rd off NC 55 west of New Bern) - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=new+bern,+nc&hl=en&ll=35.154126,-77.136769&spn=0.00007,0.035276&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.25371,72.246094&hnear=New+Bern,+Craven,+North+Carolina&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=35.156961,-77.138428&panoid=ovtEc82LlMjAMEXsd_6o3Q&cbp=12,100.49,,0,0

off NC 344 near Weeksville - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elizabeth+City,+NC&hl=en&ll=36.218691,-76.158375&spn=0.000017,0.008819&sll=35.156968,-77.138443&sspn=0.022561,0.035276&oq=elizabeth+cuty,+nc&hnear=Elizabeth+City,+Pasquotank,+North+Carolina&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=36.218591,-76.158354&panoid=xV88dKbzYs6DR9yKVVad7g&cbp=12,112,,0,0

US 60/VA 147 on Cary St in Richmond still has a brick/stone portion - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Richmond,+VA&hl=en&ll=37.535075,-77.433341&spn=0.000012,0.00441&sll=36.218587,-76.158353&sspn=0.005566,0.008819&oq=richmo&hnear=Richmond,+Virginia&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=37.535204,-77.433543&panoid=XZuzDrB9__7-Y1Xt0sKLHg&cbp=12,288.57,,0,-1.75


Mapmikey

[mightyace]

Also, in Akron, as W. Tallmadge Ave turns into Memorial Pkwy., the part of Memorial Parkway descending into the valley used to be brick.  According to Google Streetview, it has been paved over.

However, Uhler Ave. from Memorial Parkway to Cuyahoga Street is still shown as brick.
http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.103188,-81.526773&spn=0.012353,0.027874&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=41.103368,-81.526919&panoid=MeTZUjxBsFrlpuqpD3TCdA&cbp=12,25.5,,0,4.85

Please let me know if Streetview is wrong and this section is now paved over...

[kphoger]

This is the road leading to San Sebastián, Jalisco, México.  When my wife and I drove it back in 2006, they were laying the stones; most of it was still dirt (insteresting, since the trip was recommended by the guy renting us the car, yet our policy stated we could only drive on hard pavement).  In a Chevrolet Chevy, let me tell you, it can be a bit bumpy!

[Alps]

the A4 autobahn in western Poland, coming out of Germany just north of Gorlitz, D and Zgorzelec, PL, has not been modified or maintained since 1943 (!) and has the original cobblestone offramps (!!)

I call it the Secret Nazi Autobahn.  it's kinda terrifying, as the speed limit is 50 km/h.  the completely mangled concrete of the mainline should also count as an odd road surface, for sure!

This requires copious amounts of photos, y'know.

[Alps]

Afterglow Way entering Montclair, NJ from Verona is paved in bricks, not very well maintained either. Same thing - because it's a very steep hill.
There are still cobblestone streets in New York, mostly down in the lower digit streets near WSH and near the Battery under/near FDR.
Want a way to discourage traffic on your street? Leave the original cobblestones - and the original trolley tracks! It's really difficult to drive P Street in Georgetown, DC: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=georgetown+dc&hl=en&ll=38.908731,-77.068374&spn=0.004249,0.009645&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.136115,79.013672&hnear=Georgetown,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.908731,-77.068374&panoid=4_dOWQzFz4S1y4G_yfwWdA&cbp=12,272.11,,0,18.82

[wytout]

Looking North up Thames Street in Newport, RI - cobblestone, bumpy ride.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=newport+ri&hl=en&ll=41.489616,-71.315214&spn=0.000836,0.001742&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=56.856075,114.169922&hnear=Newport,+Rhode+Island&t=h&layer=c&cbll=41.489616,-71.315214&panoid=IJDMtVSWZ3xDVQe1R5U5ew&cbp=12,350.74,,0,18.15&z=20

[agentsteel53]

the A4 autobahn in western Poland, coming out of Germany just north of Gorlitz, D and Zgorzelec, PL, has not been modified or maintained since 1943 (!) and has the original cobblestone offramps (!!)

I call it the Secret Nazi Autobahn.  it's kinda terrifying, as the speed limit is 50 km/h.  the completely mangled concrete of the mainline should also count as an odd road surface, for sure!

This requires copious amounts of photos, y'know.

and I've got them... will need to upload in a blog post for sure

[mgk920]

There are many stretches of bypassed 'old roads' scattered throughout Wisconsin with the original pre-WWII concrete still in use.  There is also a section of a side street in the downtown Appleton, WI area where bits of century-old concrete are peeking out of the asphalt that is overlaid on top of it - it has a cross-hatched 'tined' texture (about 50 mm or so between the tine tines) on its surface that was used to give horses better traction.

Mike

[3467]

Same in Illinois. There is a short old Brick surface near the Monmouth bypass

[realjd]

A few yuppie suburbs in the Orlando area - Winter Park is the first one I can think of - have been installing red pavers for traffic calming and aesthetic purposes. They're very unpopular with the local cycling communities, but they do look nice.

As for other unusual road surfaces, I've always hated the open grates they use on some bridges like the Macinac Bridge, the Chicago drawbridges, or that bridge east of downtown in Jax. They're too slippery IMO.

[mgk920]

A few yuppie suburbs in the Orlando area - Winter Park is the first one I can think of - have been installing red pavers for traffic calming and aesthetic purposes. They're very unpopular with the local cycling communities, but they do look nice.

As for other unusual road surfaces, I've always hated the open grates they use on some bridges like the Macinac Bridge, the Chicago drawbridges, or that bridge east of downtown in Jax. They're too slippery IMO.

Well, if not for the open grates, there would be no Mackinac Bridge (used for substantially reducing wind loads on the span and reducing its weight) and drawbridges would be far more expensive and troublesome (substantially reduced weight and thus wear and tear on the moving parts).

Mike

[D-Dey65]

I found a few in Masaryktown, Florida that are "paved" with grass several years back.

[J N Winkler]

the A4 autobahn in western Poland, coming out of Germany just north of Görlitz, D and Zgorzelec, PL, has not been modified or maintained since 1943 (!) and has the original cobblestone offramps (!!)

About 3% of mainline Autobahn mileage built before World War II had stone sett paving--this was the result, Albert Speer later claimed in his memoirs, of a failed effort to have the SS manufacture building stone in its camps (which functioned as prison factories before the advent of the Final Solution), which resulted in a large amount of surplus stone which needed to be got rid of somehow.  Frequently the stone setts (Kleinpflaster) were laid in a fan shape.

[Alps]

Oh, I've forgotten the sand roads of the NJ Pine Barrens. 4x4 only, please.

[Jordanah1]

oshkosh wi has two seperate one block streets downdown market st. and commerce st. that are red pavers

[empirestate]

Quite a few examples of wood plank streets in Ketchikan, AK:

http://g.co/maps/yypqv - that staircase on the right is also a public "street"

http://g.co/maps/92kbd - in this case, the surface is something a little more durable, but the substructure is wood

And a very long example up in Juneau:

http://g.co/maps/spjdj

Here's a place I once went in France:

http://g.co/maps/kwe8z - that lane going off to the right as I recall was surfaced just in grass/packed earth; zoom in on the building to see that there's an official street name sign

[roadman65]

Orlando, FL has been ripping up the asphalt and putting back bricks on some streets.  This is to slow down speeders as one other said just leave it alone with the trolley tracks earlier in this thread.  Curry Ford Road has been redone near its western end as one of many streets.

Incidentally, Orange County, FL has just paved many roads and streets from dirt.  In Holden Heights all streets other than Orange Blossom Trail, Rio Grande Avenue, Michigan and Kaley Streets and Westmoreland Drive were dirt up until the last few years.

I do not know if it still is, but Ford, KS had all of its streets not paved except for the one that is state maintained (US 400).  It was like it was back in the old west, and most likely still is being no development in that part of the state recently.

[Takumi]

The road to Carova in northeastern Currituck County, NC is across a beach.

[deathtopumpkins]

The road to Carova in northeastern Currituck County, NC is across a beach.

Though unless I'm mistaken it's not that there's a defined road so much as that the community is isolated enough it's only accessible by going off-road. There is not a signed road to it, and most of the Outer Banks seashore is open to off-road vehicle use, so I for one wouldn't really consider it a road with an odd surface, so much as a lack of a road period.

Now I may be mistaken, as I've never driven onto the beach, but I have been up to the north end of NC 12 (which was a few years back so the route might be signed by now). And regardless it is an interesting case.

[hbelkins]

There are stretches along US 220 north of I-64 in Virginia where the pavement is green. Yes, green.