Vancouver Testing Rubber Sidewalk Tiles

Dec 19 2017, 1:04 pm

Have you walked on East 17th between Main & Fraser lately? Did you notice you had a little more bounce in your step? For once the wonderful Vancouver weather is not the reason for that bounce, it is in fact the new rubber sidewalk tiles being used by the City of Vancouver.

The pilot project was recently launched to test the tiles made from recycled tires over a five year period. As some of you geologists out there probably know, much of the soil in Vancouver (east van primarily) has a high level of peat in it. This causes traditional concrete sidewalk tiles to crack more often. With any new invation these rubber tiles come with a high price tag to purchase but the savings come in the long term since the tiles are easier to replace/repair and require little to no maintenance once installed.

I figured it was best to test the “bounce” level on the new sidewalk. Notice my sick assisted vert in the photo below.

No word yet on how the tiles react to sidewalk chalk.

 

 

DH Vancouver StaffDH Vancouver Staff

+ News
ADVERTISEMENT