{"id":244545,"date":"2026-07-16T04:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244545\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:30:15","slug":"pittsburghers-have-mixed-feelings-on-stone-brick-wooden-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244545\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburghers have mixed feelings on stone, brick & wooden roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Cohen grew up playing on a wooden field.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had to be sure-footed,\u201d he recalls about pickup games on Shadyside\u2019s Roslyn Place<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s few surviving wooden streets.<\/p>\n

Cohen often talks up Roslyn while chauffeuring movie actors around town. \u201cInevitably,\u201d he says, \u201cthey want to come see the street.\u201d It also draws many walkers, bicyclists, bachelor and bachelorette parties, photographers, artists and people who make rubbings of its oak blocks.<\/p>\n

Many other Greater Pittsburgh streets are paved with bricks or stones of various shapes and shades. These old-time toppings seem to be popular but problematic.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re considered handsome reminders of Pittsburgh\u2019s past. They\u2019re expensive but durable. They sprout weeds but seldom potholes. Some may reduce runoff and heat.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re bouncy and clattery. They can be slippery when wet or icy. Though many have concrete bases, they tend to develop ruts over time.<\/p>\n

Officials often wonder whether to maintain historic pavers or consign them to history. Jacob Russell, Verona\u2019s borough manager, says, \u201cIt\u2019s always an ongoing debate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The bricks of Allegheny River Boulevard in Oakmont host occasional market nights. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

Here and there<\/p>\n

According to a list of Pittsburgh\u2019s nearly 20,000 official street segments<\/a>, 623 have bricks, 295 quarried stones (often incorrectly called cobblestones, which are long out of use), and 840 concrete, while the rest are asphalt or \u201cunknown.\u201d But be warned: Some entries on the list are outdated, and one\u2019s been wrong all along. It calls Roslyn asphalt.<\/p>\n

Then again, Knoxville\u2019s Brick Way is listed correctly. It\u2019s plain asphalt, at least today. Brian Kell, a chronicler of Pittsburgh\u2019s streets<\/a>, can find no record of previous surfaces on this tiny street, first known from an 1887 plan.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pittsburgh\u2019s many brick streets don\u2019t include Knoxville\u2019s Brick Way. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

Some streets with brick or stone sections are big and bustling, like downtown\u2019s Grant Street. More seem to be small and quiet, like the Hill District\u2019s Hollace Street. Some are fairly level, like Homewood\u2019s Laxton Street. Others are dizzying, like Oakland\u2019s Joncaire Street and Beechview\u2019s Canton Avenue.<\/p>\n

Older pavers seem most common in older neighborhoods, such as Hazelwood, but are rather randomly scattered in them. Squirrel Hill\u2019s Murdoch Road has stone, brick and asphalt segments on different blocks. Middle Street on the North Side has a stone one and a brick one on the same block.<\/p>\n

\"\"Canton Avenue, America\u2019s steepest residential street, is mostly topped with quarried stone. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

These pavers are also common in older suburbs, such as McKees Rocks, Oakmont<\/a> and Sewickley. McKeesport once had a Brick Alley, named for its surface, though better known as a red-light district.<\/p>\n

Allegheny County also has 26 miles of dirt or gravel roads, historic, but hardly beloved.<\/p>\n

Streets through the years<\/p>\n

According to several sources, including Robin B. Williams of historicpavement.com<\/a>, the world\u2019s first roads were unpaved, prone to dust, mud and washouts. American settlers topped \u201cplank roads\u201d with boards and \u201ccorduroy roads\u201d with logs. Cobblestones proved tough on wheels. A mix of crushed stones was dubbed macadam for Scottish inventor John McAdam. Tar was added and one of the mixes dubbed tarmac.<\/p>\n

Wooden blocks became popular, including an 1850s kind called Nicolson or Nicholson blocks, chunks preserved with creosote. So did granite, limestone or sandstone blocks, variously called sets, setts, blockstones or Belgian blocks. The 1870s brought bricks and asphalt. The 1890s brought concrete.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pittsburgh resident Ned Schano led a winning drive for historical designation from the city for Roslyn Place and its wooden blocks. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

According to Joel Tarr in \u201cCity at the Point,\u201d 19th-century Pittsburgh was quickest to pave the busiest or wealthiest streets, sometimes charging the property owners. Many other streets remained unpaved into the 20th century.<\/p>\n

By the mid-1910s, wooden streets were already quaint, the look Roslyn\u2019s developer apparently wanted for this cozy dead end, lined mostly with brick homes. It helped that his son owned a lumberyard, which supplied about 26,000 blocks.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the city has replaced many of those blocks with newer ones. To spare them all, it blows and sweeps snow there instead of plowing it.<\/p>\n

Williams says that the nation has just a few other wooden streets left, including Cleveland\u2019s Hessler Court, part of Philadelphia\u2019s South Camac Street, and Chicago\u2019s aptly named Wooden Alley.<\/p>\n

Beautiful and bumpy<\/p>\n

Most locals praise vintage pavers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the coolest things,\u201d Kathy Lutz says of Bridgeville\u2019s several brick streets. \u201cThey make me feel nestled in here.\u201d They also remind her of a famous Beatles album cover. \u201cWe have Abbey Road in the middle of Bridgeville.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Crossing Bridgeville\u2019s Gregg Avenue, Kathy Lutz feels like a Beatle crossing Abbey Road. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

A stone stretch of Bloomfield\u2019s Lima Way is smooth enough for Kelly DiTullio to carry a heaping carton of strawberries home from the neighborhood\u2019s farmers market without spilling any. \u201cIt\u2019s charming,\u201d she says, \u201cespecially when the greenery starts to grow in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

A woman identifying herself just as Kelissa says that her dog, Princess, likes Lima\u2019s stones for relieving herself.<\/p>\n

Locals see benefits even in these pavers\u2019 bounces. Drivers slow down, and bystanders hear them coming.<\/p>\n

In Mt. Lebanon Magazine<\/a> last year, Abigail Schade Gary wrote about that suburb\u2019s many brick pavers, \u201cThe charm! The distinction that signifies Mt. Lebanon!\u201d Not quite as enthusiastically, she recalled sliding backward down them in her family\u2019s station wagon. She liked them for sledding but not roller-skating. \u201cEven if you could manage to stay on your feet over the bumpy surface, the unevenness made your teeth chatter.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few locals would update some retro roads. \u201cMost of them are in such a state that they need to be paved over,\u201d says Mt. Lebanon\u2019s Greg Carvlin.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Hill District\u2019s Francis Street has stones of several shades. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

Cara Zlatos recently hit the bricks of Aspinwall\u2019s Delafield Avenue after an appendectomy at UPMC St. Margaret. She says, \u201cEvery bump seemed to find its way straight to my sore abdomen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melissa Lang O\u2019Malley, Aspinwall\u2019s borough manager, says that Delafield\u2019s much-needed repairs will resume this summer.<\/p>\n

Bicycles bounce too. According to Julie Walsh, spokeswoman for BikePGH<\/a>, most riders prefer modern pavement for routine rides, but some choose brick or stone at times for fun, especially in challenging events like the Pittsburgh Roubaix<\/a> and the Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bicyclist Henry Snyder of Squirrel Hill says that historic pavers \u201cgive you a little chance to experience what the Tour de France guys do in Paris. You don\u2019t want to do it too long because it sends vibrations down your arm. For a block or two, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"This 1925 photo by Allegheny County shows bricks being laid in Shaler on what was called the Butler Plank Road, now William Flinn Highway. Photo courtesy of Northland Historical Image Collection.<\/p>\n

Saving surfaces<\/p>\n

A 2018 Pittsburgh ordinance<\/a> calls for preserving historic pavement where safe, unless 75 percent of the street\u2019s property owners petition for asphalt. Eric Setzler, chief engineer of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, says that it costs $30 per square yard to resurface asphalt, versus $170 for brick or $200 for stone. But brick and stone can last for decades, especially on streets with light traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are streets that are probably over 100 years old that have had minimal maintenance,\u201d he says. \u201cThey will have some dips and bumps, but they are still in service. \u2026 The cost can even out a little.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspinwall\u2019s Lang O\u2019Malley says that recent brick repairs cost about $12 per square foot versus barely $2 for asphalt, but might prove better investments over 30 to 50 years. Besides, \u201cWhile modern infrastructure needs sometimes require difficult decisions, preserving that historic character where possible remains an important part of maintaining Aspinwall\u2019s identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 2016 study<\/a> of Mt. Lebanon\u2019s brick streets, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said, \u201cThough costly to install, these streets maintain a good structural condition for decades and add beauty and history to the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2020, a Carnegie Mellon University team<\/a> estimated that Mt. Lebanon would save about $200,000 over 50 years by maintaining a stretch of brick 700 feet long instead of asphalting it. Ninety-six percent of residents surveyed said the bricks added character, and 82 percent would pay to restore them.<\/p>\n

Safety matters, though. A steep brick stretch of that suburb\u2019s Spruceton Avenue was asphalted after an official did a 360 on ice there.<\/p>\n

Verona, on the other hand, simply closes a steep stone section of South Avenue during wintry weather.<\/p>\n

\"\"Potholes in asphalt streets often reveal earlier materials, like these bricks on Joncaire Street. Photo by Grant Segall.<\/p>\n

PennDOT maintains just 0.2 miles of bricks or stones on state roads in Allegheny County: stretches of Chestnut Street in Coraopolis, Broadway in Stowe Township and Linden Avenue in East Pittsburgh. \u201cGenerally,\u201d says PennDOT Press Secretary Alexis Campbell, \u201cwe end up paving them with asphalt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Old pavers are often buried under asphalt but reappear in potholes. Others are removed and sometimes relocated. A few are part of the landscape of the Children\u2019s Museum of Pittsburgh. Some that PennDOT removed from Castle Shannon Boulevard in Mt. Lebanon are parts of that suburb\u2019s other streets.<\/p>\n

Magic and texture<\/p>\n

In the 2010s, resident Ned Schano led a campaign that won city landmark designations for Roslyn<\/a> and specifically its wood<\/a>. \u201cEvery day,\u201d says Schano, \u201cI make sure to step on the wood when I go outside. It has some magical powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen feels like Roslyn\u2019s wood is ingrained in him. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great texture for my whole life. To see it\u2019s still here when so many other things have gone away, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Cohen grew up playing on a wooden field. \u201cYou had to be sure-footed,\u201d he recalls about pickup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[104718,3431,73,75,9609,74,104719],"class_list":["post-244545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-historic-districts","tag-penndot","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-history","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-roslyn-place"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}