Shell roads

[WillowBend56]

Can you still find backroads along the Gulf Coast topped with broken seashells? That used to be quite common.

While I'm on the topic of roads, remember the smudgepots that once marked road hazards or construction areas? I guess the advent of the longer-lasting battery (along with blinking electric lights) spelled their demise.

[Subdude]

Although I've never seen a shell road myself it seems they were very common at one point. I seem to remember reading that Kirby was at first a shell or gravel road.

[brerrabbit]

Most have been replaced by crushed limestone and or crushed concrete ( actually a good recycling use). I remember as a kid there were shell roads everywhere, but they are long gone, replaced by the above products, and the lack of oyster shells since TPWD closed so many of the oyster beds.

[arisegundo]

A small segment of Capitol Street in Eastwood was all-shells well into the '90s.

[Dan the Man]

Many of the streets in the Heights and West University were originally surfaced with Oyster Shells, as were many driveways and parking lots. Oyster shells were also used as aggregate in concrete during the 1930s. The shells were probably cheaper than gravel, due to Houston's proximity to the Gulf Coast.

Oyster shells are no longer used as a road/parking lot surface, since the dredging of oyster beds has a negative environmental impact.

[moni]

I remember shells in the sidewalk concrete. It was something new to me and I thought it was so cool! Early 60's era.