Westbound traffic moves along Dickson Street past a work zone at University Avenue Monday morning.
Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff
Reconstruction of three crosswalks on Dickson Street began Sunday and will continue through Sept. 12, according to a news release.
The city’s Transportation Division will rebuild two crosswalks at the intersection of Gregg Avenue and a third between Gregg and University avenues.
Scheduled work hours are from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day.
Work will require closing the eastbound traffic lane between West and University avenues. The street will be reopened to regular traffic at night and on weekends.
Detour routes will be marked.
For more information, contact Keith Shreve at kshreve@ci.fayetteville.ar.us or call the Transportation Division office between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 575-8228.
Well how stupid is that? Two months of nothing on Dickson street and now you pick the busiest time of year to start? Morons.
Dude. Word. The city cleared out the first week of May. They had more than three months to get to work on this. Waiting until school is back in session and football starts is beyond effed.
It really is a pretty serious cluster down here. Perfect timing.
Too bad they were installed so poorly in the first place. How long have they been there? Seems like 4-5 years? Well, I’m sure Mr. Coody bears no responsiblity, but it would have been nice if they had lasted longer. I hope this construction doesn’t have any adverse impacts on local businesses since they’re already struggling so much in that part of town and all.
Found this Coody response from in the FF April of 2010:
dan coody says:
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 10:16 am Eight years ago I argued AGAINST using brick in the intersections on Dickson in favor of asphalt because of costs, maintenance, and the “too much decoration” aspect of the design that had been approved years earlier. The Council voted unanimously to approve the contract that included the brick at all intersections. Then Alderman Marr and Jordan voted for it. I just wanted to set the record straight. To quote the article at the time:
“In January, city officials recommended a change order option that would use asphalt instead of the stamped concrete to set aside more than $200,000 for construction contingencies. Coody repeatedly told the council he favored the use of asphalt to ensure funds are available if and when the construction contractor encounters complications when work begins on Dickson’s south side. Aldermen, however, balked at the notion of skimping on materials when the project’s main purpose has always been to enhance the appearance of the downtown area.”
However, now that the brick is there, why spend money to replace them with fake stamped concrete bricks and have yet another material along with asphalt and real brick crosswalks? The stamped concrete will need to be torn out for utility repairs and then there will be noticeable patches from then on. If it is cheaper to place concrete under the existing bricks to eliminate the maintenance problems, why waste the money for an ersatz finish?
As a cyclist, I hate these crosswalks. Since concrete is harder than pavement, the pavement warps and humps all around the crosswalks. Since that part of Dickson is essentially just two big hills, it makes cycling on it somewhat risky. Furthermore, it’s not terribly obvious that these are actually crosswalks. The city should remove those things and replace them with the standard white stripes that everyone in America knows is the sign for crosswalk.
Or use white bricks to make stripes in the brick crossing areas.
I was riding my bike down dickson earlier this summer and hit one of the brick crosswalks. The force of it caused my headlight to detach from my handlebars and fall into the street where it was run over by a delivery truck and shattered before I could retrieve it. Sure, the brick looks nice, but it definitely doesn’t make for a smooth ride.
Just more unnecessarily decorative road work to keep things funky. Seriously though, it’s a waste of money. When they did the tall curbs and on Dickson and threw these guys together I was banging my head into a wall. Why not just add a roundabout at Dickson and West and throw in some speed tables.
Whoever is in charge of this needs to be fired. It’s like the reverse-in spots on Block. Shoot him, fire him, put him on ditch digging duty… no wait, they’d probably have to build bridges everywhere for proper irrigation and runoff.
I disagree. As a frequenter on Block, I always have to close my eyes really tight and pray that I don’t get creamed when I’m pulling out of a regular spot. I can’t see who’s coming! Especially when a big SUV is parked next to me. when I pull out of a back in parking space, I can see! It’s safe! It’s crazy that people here couldn’t wrap their heads around how to back in. I wish they were all that way! But what do I know?
Aren’t you supposed to walk your bike across the street?
I’m not talking about crossing the street. I’m talking about riding my bike in the street, perpendicularly to the crosswalk.
Cyclists are not required to dismount to cross a street if they are in the flow of vehicular traffic. A non-signalized trail crossing a street has different requirements.
The brick cross walks are one of many examples of the city choosing aesthetics over function. The sidewalks are too narrow and cluttered with obstacles. I’d like to see the city place a utility pole in the middle of a street lane.
I’d also like to see the city treat signalized intersections on College Avenue like they do the protected crosswalks, and only place vehicle signals on one or two of the four sides of the intersection. Cars would be required to turn right until they could position themselves on a side of the intersection with a signal allowing them to safely turn left or travel to the other side of the street.
I like the bricks. I’ve always enjoyed old style fixtures over throwing on blacktop. Sorry your bike rattled. Cry me a river.
Boo freakin’ hoo. Everyone is in such a hurry to get wherever they are headed. My life is so hard! I’m being inconvenienced because my city has to fix its fancy crosswalks! Who the hell cares. First world problems people.
If we wanted to whine about third world problems we’d move to Oklahoma.
I’m glad to hear they’ve moved up a world.
Close your eyes really tight and back out???? That’s pretty smart.
For reals. It’s your only option when you can’t see!
I’m not clear on what was wrong or what is being fixed or why. Was something falling apart? Are they replacing bricks with new bricks? If someone could tell me that would be great. FWIW I vote aesthetics every time. I love the bricks and don’t mind if it makes me be careful on my bike, which I’ve actually really never noticed before. I hope whatever they’re doing looks just as nice.
While on the subject of crosswalks, whatever surface material they choose they should stripe them. As noted above, then there’s at least a chance of drivers noticing them.
Two or three crosswalks along Leverett are badly in need of restriping, they are nearly completely faded.
They get a little worse every year.
Also, some enforcement by Fayetteville PD at the crosswalk on Garland by Harps would be greatly welcomed. Plenty of pedestrians there but drivers very rarely yield properly. Maybe the roadwork will help…
On a related matter, there is a serious need for a sidewalk west of where the trail and Gregg intersect, way too many pedestrians for there to be _nothing_.