Concrete Art Blazes a Trail inDiamond Bar CaliforniaWhat is eleven feet wide and stretches for almost one mile? It is the new pedestrian-bicyclist concrete pathway being enhanced for the city of Diamond Bar by Carlsbad, California based Concrete Art. Of the pathways eleven feet width, five feet is designated for pedestrians and six feet for bicyclists.  The city of Diamond Bar is approximately 30 miles east of Los Angeles and has a population of 56,000. The new concrete pathway along Brea Boulevard runs in front of the city's senior center, a park, an elementary school, and residential housing. Before the pathway was installed, the area was an eyesore covered by dirt and weeds. Retention of the rural/country living community character is central to the city of Diamond Bar's General Plan. There is a strong, long-held goal among residents to maintain and protect distinct, physical attributes of Diamond Bar which make it a desirable place in which to live, through a careful balance of housing, businesses and services, public facilities, and preservation of significant natural environmental resources. The civil engineering firm of Dewan, Lundin and Associates designed the project, which in addition to the concrete pathway includes street lighting, landscaping and street work. Concrete Art got involved in the project when engineer Surender Dewan thought scored and stained concrete might be a beautiful and cost-effective method to decorate the concrete pathway. Dewan was familiar with Concrete Art since they had previously done a swimming pool deck for him at his own house. The design selected features bands and diamonds (It is Diamond Bar!) in mahogany, and the field in a lighter caramel color. Scoring and staining the concrete proved to have many advantages over other potential decorative options: the score lines mimic the grout lines one would find with ceramic tile, but much more cost effectively; the 1/8" deep and 1/4" wide score lines do not pose the safety hazard some stamped concrete patterns might; the walkway was poured by the concrete contractor first at a "plain broom finish" price, then the concrete was "enhanced" by scoring and staining; It can be difficult to match integral color precisely from one pour to the next, and the forming and placing costs required to pour bands and diamonds one color and the field another color is expensive; methods requiring elaborate forming would have meant the job taking longer to get done.  The Concrete Art process consists of cleaning the concrete, scoring the pattern, staining the pattern, then applying two coats of sealer. To apply the stain, they lay a diamond shaped cardboard cutout over the diamonds and spray the caramel color stain on the field area. Then they sponge on the darker mahogany color in the bands, and inside the diamonds. "The scoring on this project actually took longer than the staining," notes Mike Wagoner, Concrete Art Vice President of Sales.
To designate the bicycle lane of the path, "Steve Miller from our company traced a bicycle logo from one of the street signs and built a template, we then scored the bicycle symbol into the concrete on the bicyclist side of the path." Wagoner thinks there is much more scoring and staining to be done for municipalities as they learn what decorative options are available to them. Cities and townships across the country want to become more people and business friendly. Concrete Art Find a Concrete Contractor 24 Services in 221 Metros -- U.S. and Canada © 1999-2012 ConcreteNetwork.com None of this site may be reproduced without written permission |
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