Posted Oct 29, 2025, 6:39 PM
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Still optimistic
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Montreal (C-D-N) / Ottawa (Aylmer)
Posts: 5,407
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Frost is definitely a thing, but it's a not a distinguishing factor since it impacts all paving, as evidenced by every asphalt and concrete surface. In my estimation, the strength of brick paving is that it has the ability to be fully repaired after damage, whether from the frost, wear and tear, or from being torn up to fix something underneath. It's resilient - you can take them out, replace them, and put them back looking like new.
Once asphalt or concrete start to fail, you start the patchwork. And then you patch the patches. And you keep patching until the patches are so lumpy and unsightly that you finally have the license to fully repave/pour after 10-20 years. And then that will last a few months until you have to start patching again. Or not even - it seems like only days after every paving job, Bell or Enbridge comes in to break it and make some minor adjustment, and you already have a patch before the lane paint is even dry...
But one way or another, 19 of the 20 years of a street's lifecycle will be spent in some level of worsening decay, because there's no way to make it "like new" other than to tear up the whole thing. But bricks can be put back or replaced in minutes, looking perfectly new. It's great in the spring, but where I think their strength really lies is in the Bells and Enbridges and all the other reasons the paving needs to be cut open to repair underground infrastructure.
But... of course this is all theoretical if the City doesn't actually repair the bricks. And that's our eternal issue, it seems - the City seems slow to fully understand that there is no workaround for the truth that if you don't maintain something, it won't last. A capital budget means nothing without a maintenance budget, whether it's bricks, asphalt, or unobtanium paving.
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