By John Rowe, CDC Sales Manager, Pavestone Company

Frequently used in northern climates all over the world, concrete paver pavements are simple to snow plow and do not easily become permanently discolored by deicers like some forms of colored concrete. Heavy freeze/thaw cycles in some locales can cause extensive cracking, chipping, and spalling in ordinary concrete but not in these very dense paving units.
Photos courtesy of Pavestone

After World War II, many of our cities?EUR??,,????'??? cores had become atrophied and decayed as people and businesses moved to the suburbs?EUR??,,????'??? master-planned communities and industrial and commercial parks. This exodus continued unabated until the early 1970s when revitalization projects?EUR??,,????'??+both public and private?EUR??,,????'??+began wooing people back to live, work, and play in downtowns everywhere.

In the last 30 years, downtown living has seen a tremendous resurgence in urban areas across the United States. Businesses have been given tax incentives and opportunities for attractive long-term leasing to move to their old central locales. Success stories abound as this revitalization continues.

Hardscape materials, including concrete pavers, are an integral part of the new urban landscape and see more use as time goes on. Paving sidewalks, plazas, driveways, and streets in attractive materials such as natural stone, clay brick, ceramic tile, patterned poured concrete and concrete pavers has become commonplace.

The Vail Village concrete pavers are ?EUR??,,????'??sand set?EUR??,,????'?? with sand vibrated down between small joints in the pavers. They are very strong and secure this way and, indeed, require some work to get them out of the paving surface. The sand joints are, however, flexible and these joints allow the pavement to move up and down slightly as the surrounding edges expand and contract with temperature variances.

In most cases, concrete pavers cost a fraction of natural stone. They are also less expensive to install. In the last ten years, there has been an increased availability of very stone-like looking pavers that have variegated surfaces and are often tumbled. These are warm and richly textured, mimicking the cobbled streets of old. They are also dimensionally precise, allowing for more economical installation.

Clay brick has been a popular choice for urban paving for centuries and with good reason; it makes for a beautiful pavement. Concrete pavers take up where clay leaves off. These paving blocks can be pigmented in an infinite array of colors including blues, greens, purples as well as many natural looking blends. Almost anything that a designer can imagine can be done.

New generation paving materials come in an almost infinite number of shapes and patterns, offering many different design options. We in the industry are increasingly seeing several different varieties and surface finishes being used in the same project in several different colors. The results are a richly textured colored mosaic of paving stones in a very pleasing visual display.

In Colorado Springs, the pavers were used as banding in twenty-five city blocks with poured concrete still used in most of the surface area. The city therefore was able to save a considerable amount of money over using the pavers in all of the total surface area, enabling them to put these savings towards more renovation.

These paving block systems are a great choice in harsh climates and are used frequently in northern climates all over the world. The paver pavements do not crack or break due to seasonal changes or with slight movements in the ground beneath them. Public works departments in our cities have become enamored of concrete pavers for their long-lasting durability and low-maintenance qualities.

Concrete pavers are generally considered to have a thirty-year lifecycle. However, they can last much longer than that. Many of these pavements are still in service after fifty years in Europe and South Africa. Several of these are driving surfaces that carry many vehicles daily. The Dutch, hard-core recyclers, have even taken up driving surfaces comprised of these concrete pavers and flipped them over, hopeful for another twenty years of service. Most of these pavements are cleaned occasionally but have no other maintenance requirements other than that.

Colorado Springs, Colo. has successfully used concrete pavers extensively in their downtown renewal plans. Considerations for an upscale pavement design to accompany extensive landscape enhancement and building fa??? 1/4 ade improvements included the following points. The pavement had to be unique?EUR??,,????'??+a signature piece for the city. It needed to be attractive, economical, and low maintenance. The pavement needed be installed quickly and put back into service immediately, disrupting the ordinary flow of business as little as possible.

Colorado Springs city officials, their landscape designers, and a local concrete manufacturer were able to fulfill all of these needs. The designers enlisted the paver manufacturer to come up with a suitable pallet of color and utilized four different shapes in a unique design. No one else has this color scheme or configuration. This is truly a signature pavement for the city. The result has been very well received and business is thriving in this Rocky Mountain city like never before.

Concrete pavers absorb less water, which makes them much less susceptible to damage in freeze/thaw climates than ordinary concrete. Repairs are easier in public places where utility line cuts are routinely made in poured concrete, becoming an eyesore. Pavers however, can simply be taken up and reinstalled, leaving no trace of the repair.

Vail, Colo., has a similar story to tell. Vail has long been one of the most popular ski destinations for people all over the western hemisphere. It has also become a popular summer vacation resort in the last twenty years. Town officials and private business interests alike decided several years ago that this charming little mountain town needed some updating. Much of the original ski village was built in the 1960s and a good deal of the original infrastructure was still in place. Renovation has been dramatic and is still underway.

Buildings are being torn down, many more are getting facelifts, and streets are being reconfigured. Extensive use of concrete pavers throughout the downtown area is a key component of this top to bottom transformation.

Vail Village has always had a very charming pedestrian downtown consisting of winding narrow streets full of nightclubs, restaurants, and shops. Once again, the town, their design team and a local paver manufacturer came up with a unique signature pavement that truly stands out as something special. People from all over the United States and Canada call the manufacturer regularly to find out what these pavers are and how they can get some for their own projects.

No one seems to have seen anything quite like the old-time split cobble look Vail has achieved here. The little lanes appear literally to draw people along them; they are so inviting and captivating as to make one want to see what is around the next bend. These cobble streets are artfully connected with many other varieties of concrete paver pavement from adjoining projects.

Concrete pavers make colorful, widely varied, economical, low maintenance, and long-lasting durable pavements that enhance our cities and towns, making our downtown areas inviting and livable. Who knows, maybe one day asphalt and poured concrete will become obsolete and concrete pavers will be the standard everywhere.