Sanford contractor removes downtown bricks to flatten road surface

City workers pulled up bricks from the southbound side of Park Avenue at the corner of Second Street on Sunday morning. The work crew operated on a weekend, a time when standard city worker hours end at 1 p.m. on Friday.

Pete Moss, a local resident, observed the crew and noted the absence of City of Sanford decals on the side of the work vehicle. He inquired with the workers and learned that a private contractor is responsible for the project. The firm is hired to remove bricks from various streets in the downtown area and re-lay them. The stated goal is to create a smoother street surface.

Moss questioned the logic of smoothing the roads, suggesting the changes would allow cars to travel faster without encountering bumps. He compared the project to his experience in Winter Park, a town he last visited fifteen years ago. In Winter Park, the main street, also named Park Avenue, features brick paving. Every few feet, one or two bricks are raised up approximately half an inch. This design creates a bumpy ride intended to slow drivers down.

Moss argued that the Winter Park method is effective because it encourages slower driving. He proposed that Sanford should adopt a similar strategy. Instead of making the streets smoother, the city could raise specific bricks to increase the bumpiness of the brick streets. He described this approach as a cheap form of traffic speed control.