In a small section, along the east side of the Maumee River in the City of Toledo, Ohio there has been many changes. This area boasts many restaurants complete with outdoor seating overlooking the river, where seeing the rowers of the Toledo Rowing Club is a common sight as well as taking a stroll along a beautiful pedestrian waterfront walkway. This project of beautification was a very gradual process. Since Toledo is a port of entry and one of the chief shipping centers on the Great Lakes, the east side of Downtown Toledo has historically been an industrial area. In the early beginnings of the city, this area was a hub of retail activity however, as the city grew the commerce relocated leaving the factories behind and eventually the factories were left dormant as well. After a long period of time the City of Toledo turned it?EUR??,,????'???s attention to this area and created a park like setting but it sat virtually unused. Further along the river, where it was still an industrial graveyard, a few entrepreneurs with vision opened their own restaurants and lo and behold they met with success. Others followed and this area suddenly became a new place to patronize. The City recognized the need for the utilization of the unused land space and to beautify the expanse. It was going to take some imagination and foresight to convert the 40,000 square feet of crumbling concrete retaining walls, bare blacktop and railway tracks into a pleasant space where people would want to spend time. Steve Day, Chief Landscape Architect of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry for the City of Toledo, was up for the challenge. A focal point of the project would be an attractive pedestrian walkway to create a refined waters edge and provide a place to stroll. Originally the entire pedestrian walkway called for the use of clay bricks, however budget constraints made choosing hand-laid pavers impossible. It was decided a small portion could be completed in the clay bricks but that meant leaving a large section of the walkway as plain asphalt. Everyone agreed that this would not be aesthetically pleasing so a viable substitute needed to be found that would create the same effect as the brick but at a lesser cost. Day provided the solution by introducing the city council to StreetPrint?EUR??,,????< This paving system involves imprinting hot asphalt to create a 3 dimensional appearance, replicating a wide variety of brick, cobblestone and slate surfaces. The textured asphalt is then colored with a polymer cement surfacing system. The members of the decision team from the City of Toledo were unfamiliar with the product and hesitant to incorporate it into the project but Steve was confident it was going to resolve their concerns. He knew that the product had been used successfully on another revitalization project, in a nearby district, so all the key decision-makers made a visit to this reference site and decided that they were interested in the technique but wanted a different pattern. Tim Dobson, a Landscape Architect intern for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry for the City of Toledo, was given the task of investigating the product further. After extensive investigation of the company?EUR??,,????'???s website and making a number of probing phone calls, Dobson found there were eight standard patterns to choose from or an option to have a custom template made especially for the project. He also learned that the product would also bring with it low maintenance and exceptional performance under extreme winter conditions because of the asphalt?EUR??,,????'???s flexible base. Since it would be more likely to accept any shifting the product would resist cracking and if minor repairs to the surface were required, they could be done easily and seamlessly. Upon careful consideration of all these factors, the team became comfortable with the product and came to the conclusion to incorporate the paving system. The intricate Eurofan pattern and Slate color were selected and integrated into the design plans. The Authorized Contractor, who was awarded the imprinted asphalt portion of the river walk project, was Gerken Paving, Inc. out of Napoleon, Ohio. Steve Creager, Gerken Paving?EUR??,,????'???s Project Coordinator was very excited about being involved in this phase of the project but admittedly "had apprehension about installing the Eurofan pattern. This specific pattern is beautiful because of its exotic fan-like appearance but it is extremely challenging to layout." However, the team was up to the test and undeterred. They took the appropriate steps to ensure proper planning and the extra time to make each imprint perfect. Under Creager and Dobson?EUR??,,????'???s careful supervision the crew maintained meticulous precision guaranteeing that the layout of intricate pattern stayed aligned and the imprinting finished on schedule. Upon completion, everyone involved in the project was very pleased with the final outcome. The City officials who were hesitant about the product in the beginning were said to be amazed and impressed at how well the project turned out and had no qualms approving the use of the texturing process for the next phase of revitalization. "This pattern could have been replicated in bricks," Dobson said. "However, it would have never come within budget. Using this product provided a great balance between an intricate visual pattern, without the cost of more expensive materials." This casual river walk area has come a long way from its humble beginnings for it is no longer a lost and forgotten piece of land in east Downtown Toledo. It now boasts many restaurants with outdoor seating which enables an unobstructed view of the skyscrapers perched on the west side of the flowing water of the Maumee River. However, the scene would not be complete without the beautiful Eurofan detailed pedestrian walkway reminiscent of the cobblestone paths of yesterday. The City of Toledo has provided a place where patrons can stroll after a satisfying meal and reflect on the history of the area and on an era gone by. Laura Williamson is the Marketing Coordinator for Integrated Paving Concepts