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Square by square, the city of Charlotte on Wednesday laid down a new attempt at protecting its trees: rubber sidewalks.
The experimental sites are along The Plaza at Commonwealth Avenue and on West 28th Street.
Rubber sidewalks developed by the California company Rubber Sidewalks were created to be less invasive for tree roots and more flexible and porous than concrete. They're also easier to walk on. The rubber tiles, each made of recycled tires, are recyclable and can be flipped when one side gets worn.
Vivian Coleman, pedestrian program manager for the Charlotte Department of Transportation, said there are 70 other cities in the United States that have installed rubber sidewalks. “Charlotte is trying to create a more connected city for pedestrians, bikers and automobiles, and that's an important message from CDOT,” she said.
Coleman said concrete costs about $20 per linear foot, while the rubber costs about $80.
“Remember though, this is a small test, and we're trying to be wary of taxpayers' money and wait to do more until the city of Charlotte is comfortable with it,” she said.
She said that according to Rubber Sidewalks, Inc., the life span of rubber sidewalks is more than 15 years. Coleman said concrete usually lasts 50 to 60 years.
Linda Durrett, communications and public relations manager for CDOT, said the rubber installments are an exciting opportunity for Charlotte.
“They're better for the trees, less harmful and constricting to tree roots, and let's face it, Charlotte is a city of trees, and anything to protect our tree canopy would be a good thing,” she said.
“This is a test. We'll find out the pros and cons and do a thorough evaluation.”
Don McSween, Charlotte's arborist, said he supports the rubber sidewalks. “I think it's an innovative approach,” he said. “We spend a lot of money over the years repairing sidewalks to do it without damaging tree roots, and this is another technique to try and do that.”
He said the city will be watching how growth rates and summertime temperatures affect the rubber.
Coleman said that the rubber absorbs less heat from the sun than concrete does, and that it is fire-resistant to temperatures up to 500 degrees.
Not that the sidewalk would be in danger of catching fire for long. The two test sites are in front of Fire Stations 8 and 11.
Deputy Fire Chief Rich Granger said the sites were chosen because they get a lot of foot traffic.
“It's a neat way to handle and recycle a product,” he said. “What I like about it is, we as a city are trying to be more efficient and green and recycle, and I think this is a step in a right direction. It seems to be more forgiving than concrete.”
Michael Gervais, 33, frequently walks on the sidewalk of Commonwealth Avenue and The Plaza, and he said he doesn't think it will have that much of a positive environmental effect.
“The previous sidewalk was working fine, so just adding material because it's environmentally friendly doesn't make it environmentally friendly,” he said. “It would make sense to put it in if it were never a sidewalk in the first place.”
Gervais works as a construction engineer and said this situation is similar to somebody building an 8,000 square foot home, and to be “green,” using bamboo for flooring, although using 8,000 square feet of bamboo doesn't help the environment.
“There's a lot of green-washing going on,” he said.
But Chantilly resident Dana Yarbrough, 45, said she thinks the rubber is a good idea to help the environment. She said the sidewalk gets a lot of use with the Common Market and other businesses nearby.
“I think it's a great neighborhood and place to put it and test it out,” she said.
A rubber sidewalk was installed as a walkway from a parking lot to a community center two years ago in Arlington, Virginia.
Stephen Lucas, construction manager specialist for Arlington's Department of Parks and Recreation, said the sidewalk has been successful.
“People like walking on it. They think it's interesting to walk on,” he said. Lucas compared it to the safety surfaces on playgrounds. “It's held up pretty well. It hasn't pulled up or anything like that, but it hasn't been down long enough to know if it will hold up better than concrete.”
Coleman said the city would have to wait and see how it fares.
“Over time after evaluations, we'll just have to use good judgment on this for the future and see if it's worth spending money on rubber sidewalks in a couple of years.”
Charlotte at-large council member Susan Burgess said she first suggested the sidewalks after reading about them three years ago.
“It's a very interesting option,” she said. “We have so many large trees in the planting strip, and the roots break up our sidewalks from time to time. So with the flexibility of rubber sidewalks, we may be able to prevent some expensive repairs.”
Burgess also said Charlotte has rubber product in place on several handicapped ramps that connect sidewalks to roads, and they've worked well.
