Golden age of roads, when they were paved with brick

Golden age of roads, when they were paved with brick

EDITOR:

While growing up on the North Side of Youngstown, our street was made of brick. While visiting relatives on the North and South sides, I noticed that the streets were made of brick. South Avenue from Front Street to Midlothian Boulevard was made of brick. The Route 46 bridge leading into downtown Niles was made of brick.

Then somebody somewhere got the bright idea to pave over the brick with asphalt.

Those bricks didn’t move anywhere. They stayed put in all kinds of weather, especially winter weather. No one had to worry about bent wheel rims, blown tires or thrown front end alignments — that is until asphalt came along. Recently, driving on Harvard Boulevard in Dayton, which was made of brick, was a pleasure. It was nice and smooth, not a pothole in sight and no dangerous swerving into the oncoming lane to avoid the sudden appearance of a pothole.

When are the officials going to realize that asphalt is not suited for Ohio?

Now there’s an almost $2 million repaving project set for Mahoning Avenue from Meridian Road to Lipkey Road, and guess what they plan on repaving it with? Why asphalt, of course. Why not scrape up all the asphalt and repave Mahoning Ave. with brick? Why not scrape up all the asphalt in Youngstown and Mahoning County and replace it all with brick? Too expensive they may say. Oh, really? Asphalt has to be replaced every five or six years, at least, and the cost of new bids keeps rising. And what about all of the complaints filed against the city in small claims court by citizens who have ruined tires and wheel rims after plunging into these deep asphalt potholes? They cover the potholes with “coldpatch” a mix of guess what? Asphalt. In a week that coldpatch flies out and it’s back to square one. How much does that cost?

Contractors will need manpower to lay the brick, so the unemployment rate will decrease substantially. The crime rate will decrease. Young people hired to lay brick streets will be so tired at the end of a shift they’d want to go home and rest instead of marauding, robbing, murdering and raping.

Remember that bridge in Niles on Route 46? For years, there were chuckholes that formed every winter on the bridge’s surface giving drivers damage and headaches. Then some brilliant official issued the order to scrape off all of the asphalt on that bridge down to the original surface: brick. And the short drive over that bridge became nice and smooth again, no damage to the vehicles which crossed it.

And the people who provide asphalt can padlock those machines and buy kilns to make the bricks to be used for resurfacing, so they’ll still be earning a living. At least we won’t have to import the bricks from Mexico or China — I don’t think.

Let those in charge get busy and scrape off all of the asphalt and replace it with brick. Then Cleveland, Akron, Canton will notice and do the same thing eventually. Reporters from all over the world will return to Youngstown and instead of doing stories on chronic unemployment will do stores on employment and effort to make potholes extinct.

J.E. BLACK

Austintown

Count all the votes

EDITOR:

The recent controversy over whether or not to count votes from Florida or Michigan strikes questions in the minds of all Americans about the honesty and fairness of voting/polling systems in the United States. The voter is not at fault for states holding early elections. Democracy is based on the right of all citizens to be heard.

As a Democrat, I agree with the commitment to reforming how we vote. There should be standards to protect the accuracy, verifiability, and accountability of voting. However, just the opposite occurs when anyone’s vote isn’t counted. I strongly urge the Democratic National Committee to count the Florida and Michigan votes and seat the delegates.

If neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can begin to address these issues then perhaps new parties need to be formed and the former abolished.

KENNETH R. ALLEN

Warren