The public sidewalk in front of Gaiety Hollow was in rough shape, mostly due to tree roots heaving the pavement upwards.  The morning of my last visit the City of Salem crew had demolished the old sidewalk, and it was all captured on film by arborist Woody Dukes.  Woody said that the old sidewalk was poured directly onto the soil, allowing the tree roots to grow under the concrete and eventually cause the sidewalk to buckle.  First they broke up and removed all the old concrete,

then they removed offending roots (and here Woody says we’ll just have to wait and see if the trees can survive…)

then they built the forms for the new sidewalk, giving the tree roots a little extra space…and put down gravel under where the new concrete will be poured…

Today the city crew poured the new sidewalk and it looks pretty good…let’s hope the trees can survive…

(I’m not sure HOW Woody got this next shot…but it’s clear the new sidewalk will be good looking!)