The Sidewalk Crack Project is an attempt to document locations where Davis sidewalks are in desperate need of repair. This includes major cracks and uplifted sections. Naturally, potholes should be document with the Pothole Project. Sidewalk cracks present hazards to the elderly, disabled, Chihuahuas, those pushing strollers, and people who do not pay attention to where they are walking. Furthermore, they are potentially dangerous to people on roller-blades, roller-skates, skateboards, and bicycles. These sidewalk deformities are a liability and, in some instances, can lead to litigation and even death.

If you add a location to this list, please note specifically where the problem is and when you observed it, and e-mail the information to the city's Pavement Manager Nancy McKee.

When you are out looking for sidewalk cracks, keep an eye out for undiscovered WPA marks as well!

Note: this page is the subject matter of PhilipNeustrom's 10,000th edit!

Sidewalk Crack Listing

Recently Repaired Cracks

  • 2820 Fifth Street - South sidewalk, just before driveway next to Mace Market - This is indeed a temporary repair and a permanent fix will be in place soon.

Sidewalk Crack Counts

Philosophical Musings

Can a grass sidewalk have cracks?

More than you could count, my friend... More than you could count.

Photos

A big crack on Russell by California. (2005)

On J Street

On J Street

Sometimes heaved sections are ground down so that they are even

The cliffs of Alhambra

A doozy on B in front of St James, plus a cool storm drain.

F Street: 9th & F, SW Just south of 8th & F Just north of 7th & F - technically not cracked, but just wait

Buckles

Sometimes sidewalks bukle instead of crack, like this buckle on Arroyo Ave that has grown into quite the vertical bump:

Repairs

Sidewalk near 2820 Fifth Street, looking East

Temporary fix of the sidewalk near 2820 Fifth Street, looking East

Sidewalk near 2820 Fifth Street, looking West

Temporary fix of the sidewalk near 2820 Fifth Street, looking West

Comments:

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2007-04-08 22:02:32   Take Russel westwards towards where it becomes Arlington. The trees are in the exact middle of the sidewalk, causing people to actually walk in the bike lane around it, and the cracks pictured above are babies in comparison! :D —EdWins

2007-04-09 15:02:57   Just wanted to say this page is an awesome idea! —MikeIvanov

2007-04-09 15:12:54   That's the nice thing about wikis. No matter what page gets created, there is at least one other future reader that will think it was a great idea to create the page! —WesHardaker

Hmm is it really a sidewalk crack. Couldn't it just be the sidewalk ending? and perhaps a new sidewalk beginning. We should contemplate on these paths we walk. ~DavidPoole

2007-04-09 18:40:49   And we could write a book about it! We could call it "Where the sidewalk ends". Oh wait... —WesHardaker

2007-04-11 19:52:59   If you build a sidewalk near a large tree, the roots are gonna exert pressure and break through the concrete. —TusharRawat

    If you plant a small tree next to a large sidewalk, eventually the roots are gonna exert pressure and break through the concrete. :-) —WesHardaker

      If you plant a tree, and fail to water it properly, its roots will rise to the surface to access the additional water. It isn't about the tree being there so much as the tree needing water. Just noting, we are the root of the problem still. ~DavidPoole

2007-04-12 01:39:09   H street just got some potholes filled. —StevenDaubert

2007-04-12 10:42:07   I never noticed the cracks until I had a stroller to push. There is a doozy of a crack on Fortuna that is next to one of those mobile basketball hoops (that shouldn't even be on the sidewalk). —NoelBruening

  • excellent point. i didn't even think about people that had to push strollers. thanks for mentioning this!!! —JessicaRockwell

2007-04-22 19:09:45   Do the bumps in the left lane of east-bound Covell (between the Marketplace and Albertson's) qualify to be mentioned on this page? After years of filling them in, someone, I'm guessing the city, finally gave up and put up a sign to slow down to 30 mph. I recommend just avoiding the lane...it's worked for me for 10ish years. Maybe I need to create a "Bumps in the Road" page, hmmmm. —KristenMartin

  • 2007-04-22 19:53:58   The last edition of Davis Focus said this was a scheduled Capital Improvement Project. here it is. —EdHenn

  • Good to know, thanks! —KristenMartin

2007-07-27 13:29:14   crack is whack —JackkiCox

2007-07-27 14:05:49   Did this page just become productive, Lamar? —BrentLaabs

2008-02-24 20:38:40   I agree with EdWins, Im a landscape architecture major and in my long duration of schooling, I've learned that, that planning job is whack. I don't know how anyone without centipede flexiblity and cougar reflexes could manuver through that sidewalk. I bet Evil Kenivil could do it-on a flaming dirtbike. —Domlertylique

2008-11-20 15:36:17   Do sidewalks made of asphalt count? There are some really bad cracks/lumps on the asphalt paths in North Davis, along the green belt and Anderson, due to tree roots. Really bad for strollers and uncomfortable for bikes (for my bike, anyway). —gurglemeow

2008-11-20 15:43:00   I've noticed that some of the gutters at bus stops will ooze, and sometimes gush, muddy water when the bus pulls up. I assume this is mud under the road that is being squeezed up by the weight of the bus. Also, at the southbound Anderson and Villanova stop, one of the blocks that makes up the sidewalk sometimes rocks back and forth, if the bus runs over the right spot... —JoePomidor

2008-11-20 22:16:10   Isn't sidewalk crack stepping the leading cause of the breaking of the backs of the mothers of the sidewalk crack steppers? —IDoNotExist

2010-03-18 10:06:11   In this economic climate, I must object! Starving lawyers need all the sources of frivolous lawsuits they can get! —TomGarberson

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