SEQUIM — Anyone attending City Council meetings recently knows one thing for sure — Councilman Don Hall really doesn’t want more asphalt sidewalks installed around town.
He’s raised the issue on a couple of development proposals recently, sometimes getting fellow council members to vote with him to require concrete sidewalks.
And sometimes not, with most council members and city staff choosing to decide on a case-by-case approach.
“I’ve been walking around town,” Hall said. “I walk on the asphalt, and I’ve noticed that the asphalt breaks down real quick.
“Down the road, the city’s going to have to do the repairing.”
It’s a concern of his that likely will come up again as Sequim adds residential developments and the accompanying sidewalks.
City regulations don’t specify what material must be used, only that some form of paving must take place.
Use considered
City Planning Director Dennis Lefevre said the use of a trail or sidewalk is taken into consideration when deciding what material to use. Asphalt might work better than concrete on a curvy hiking trail, for example.
Another factor considered is what’s been installed nearby.
Planners want to avoid a “checkerboard” effect with alternating concrete and asphalt pathways.
Generally, Lefevre said, walkways on the outside of a development are asphalt while the internal sidewalks are concrete. The downtown area will always have concrete sidewalks.
“It doesn’t seem to me that the developers have much of a care one way or the other,” Lefevre said.
Bruce Chattin, executive director of the Washington Aggregate and Concrete Association, said the issue has been debated “ad nauseam to the history of time.”
Which route to go depends largely on a city council’s philosophy and whether it thinks the community is best served by maximizing “miles per dollar, or dollars per mile,” Chattin said.
Asphalt has a service life of between eight and 20 years, he said, while more expensive concrete can last 35 to 75 years.
In some cases, asphalt can end up being more expensive because of higher maintenance costs over the life of the surface, Chattin added.
“The best of both worlds is an asphalt subgrade with concrete on top,” he said. That combination maximizes each materials’ strengths and “usually keeps both industries happy.”
But, he added, “I wouldn’t use that in sidewalks. That’s for roadways.”
