Sidewalks Crumbling in Rome (Georgia)

This concrete sidewalk in Rome, Ga. shows signs of aging with a chipped surface.

Sidewalks on the east side of Broad Street in Rome, Ga. are crumbling and city officials are weighing options for a fix.

Rome Public Works Director Jamie McCord said the worst deterioration is in the 300-block, although several blocks are affected. The only real solution is to excavate the concrete and re-pour the sidewalk.

''It will be a major interruption of business,'' he said. ''We know we've got to do it, but we need to think about it and plan it out.''

A major hurdle is the lack of funding. The city squeezed $75,000 for sidewalks into a tight budget this year, but McCord doesn't think that would cover the replacement in a single block. The problem has been slowly growing during the past few years, but other projects took priority.

''This last snow really put us over the edge,'' he said. ''It's high on the priority list now, but it's a pretty big deal. If we can find the money, we'll do something this year. We just didn't budget for a massive rehab of Broad Street.''

The top layer of concrete is scabbing off in spots, McCord said but, although it looks unappealing, the elevation is unchanged and the sidewalks are not hazardous.

Crews occasionally run a sweeper to clear away the debris, but the pavement continues to erode.

The problems date back to the 1992 Streetscape project when the sidewalks were poured. Temperatures were starting to fall, but the sidewalks on the sunny side of the street cured well and are still in good shape.

On the shady east side, however, crews had to put calcium chloride in the mix to speed up the hardening - and the sidewalks required extra calcium and salt treatments through the years to melt winter ice.

''It's deteriorated basically because of the calcium,'' McCord said. ''We've been keeping an eye on it for the past three years. The ice gets in the cracks, expands and contracts, and makes it worse.''