The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-06
BRICK AND ASPHALT.
Relative Merits of the Two Materi-
RIs for South Broad Street Dis


cussed.
Editor Morning News: Having recently
visited Jacksonville. Fla, had the OPP
portunity of personally inspecting the
vitrified brick pavements of that city and
getting some valuable information regard
ing the same from reliable citizens not
interested except as property owners,
many of them residing on the streets paw
ed. made inquiries of some eighteen or
twenty and received as many favorable
comments
1 know that much has been said and
written about these pavements and yet
judging from my own experience I feel
satisfied that our citizens generally do not
understand the relative merit of vitrified
brick properly made and laid as compared
with asphalt.
Several months ago petition to our city
council was presented to every lot owner
of South Broad street for his or her sig
nature. This petition favored asphalt as
against vitrified brick, with which to pave
that street. Accompanying that petition
was a pamphlet containing extracts from
newspapers regarding the noise of brick
pavements and several photographs show
ing uneven surfaces and other defects
| caused by heavy traffic over those streets.
When that petition was handed me 1 de-
| clined at first to sign it, because having
had my office and residence on Broughton
| street before and after it was paved,
regarded asphalt as particularly objec-
| tionable for the following reasons: 1t was
certainly very noisy, especially in the ear
| ly mornings, when the market wagons
and other vehicles were being driven over
| it, not so much from the vehicles as from
! the horses hoofs. 1t was without doubt
! the hottest of all pavements during our
| long summer days, and l believed without
| question the dirtiest of all material with
which a street could be paved, the surface
| being slowly but positively pulverized into
an almost impalpabe dust by passing We
| hicles, and its extreme lghtness made it
! possible for the slightest breeze to send it
| into every creyce of the house to the con-
slant annoyance of the tidy housekeeper,
and that the dust seemed of such a sticky
nature that it had actually to be rubbed
off. I stated to the gentlemen that L
would very much prefer living on an I'M
paved street to one paved with asphalt;
that with my experience on Jones street
greatly preferred shell to asphalt. But L
was informed that was not the question.
You must choose between brick and as
! phalt, as one or the other of these two
materials will be used Then it was that
having only the photographs and extracts
upon which to base an opinion regarding
vitrified brick / signed the paper, really
prefering almost anything to a pavement
such as these represented.
Now, after a personal investigation of
! the very decided merits of vitrified brick,
| both as to noise and lasting qualities, to
| say nothing of its cleanliness as seen in
| the many miles of streets at Jacksonville,
/ have changed my opinion, and offer as
| an excuse for this communication that
believe there are many lot owners on
| South Broad, like myself, signed that pc
| tition under mistaken idea regarding the
| relative merits of the two materials. 1t
| is certainly due the citizens generally and
! taxpayers in particular who pay one-third
of the cost of all paving, that they be in
formed regarding this important matter
South Broad is without doubt the most
beautiful of the many beautiful streets of
Savannah and only the best paving ma
! terial should be used upon it. With vtri-
fed brick, properly made and laid, l be-
iieve II would be one of the most beauti-
! full residence streets to be found in the en-
tire country.
1 have said nothing regarding the com
parative ease with which water and gas
pipes can be reached when necessary in a
street paved with brick and the light cost
TO property owners when such work has
| to be done as compared with asphalt. This
being too obvious for argument.
Samuel A. White