Michigan’s Capital City Appears Set to Vanish Its Remaining Brick-Lined Streets
There's a romantic old-timeyness to brick-lined streets. Many Michigan cities use them on select blocks of a showcased section of their downtowns - think Saginaw Street in downtown Flint - or in toney residential neighborhoods for both the aesthetic value and as a traffic calming device.
In Lansing there are few brick streets to be found, and one of them along Washington Street may be paved over soon as part of ongoing construction work.
The question about brick streets in Lansing came up recently on the Lansing subreddit of Reddit. Lansingites pointed to Washington Street near the Capitol as the last remaining brick street in the city. Even in the city's Old Town neighborhood there's not a brick to be seen on the area's streets.
That’s sad. I wish cities could see brick roads to be an integral part of our history that improves quality of life. Imagine how much cooler Old Town would look with its original brick streets.
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The brick blocks on Washington Street are from Lenawee north past Kalamazoo and Washtenaw Streets. Standard pavement returns at Allegan Street.
It's a sewer project slated for 2025 in Washington Square that may spell the end to the bricks there. Part of the project calls for a reconfiguration of the street scape with fresh pavement, sidewalks and curbs.
Oddly, Lansing does maintain dirt streets within its city limits.