SALEM — They are as much a part of New England as clam chowder and crisp fall foliage: cobblestones, pathways to the past, evoking images of horse-drawn carriages clopping along stone-speckled streets.
But in this historic North Shore city, where they cobbled Bridge Street and the surrounding hillside from 1881 to 1883, history and practicality are clashing, with the reign of cobblestone roads yielding to the age of asphalt.
It is a battle that has been fought for decades in New England, emerging anew in Salem in recent months. Workers ripping up an old layer of pavement at the intersection of Bridge, Lynn, and River streets, in the city’s historic McIntire district, unearthed a bed of cobblestones beneath the torn-up tar.
City leaders wanted to proceed with the repaving, but impassioned history buffs pushed to preserve the cobblestones, more accurately known as Belgian blocks.
“Tourists come to Salem and marvel at the original street that they had never seen. It’s like being in a museum,” said Jane Arlander, who lives in a Federal Street home that has been in her family for nearly two centuries. “Cobblestone is part of the fabric of this neighborhood. Asphalt is not.”
But city engineer David Knowlton said the stones’ uneven surfaces can hold snow and ice in the winter, becoming slippery and difficult to plow. Mary Margaret Moore, executive director of the Independent Living Center of the North Shore and Cape Ann Inc., said cobblestones would restrict the mobility of people with physical disabilities.
“We design streets for everybody,” Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said. “The trouble with cobblestone is it’s a difficult site to traverse.”
John Carr treads on cobbled paths every day, as does Arlander, whose driveway is dappled with sandy-colored Belgian blocks. In the garden of Carr’s River Street home, which dates to 1784, he has arranged cobblestones in a circle near a cluster of arborvitae trees. He puts antique stones on a pedestal: A mid-19th century millstone is the focal point of his yard, propped atop a brownstone platform surrounded by lawn chairs.
A passion for historic building materials isn’t the only reason Carr defends cobblestones.
“Our primary focus is safety,” he said. Drivers “treat Lynn Street like a highway off-ramp, and they don’t slow down until they’re halfway in the neighborhood.”
Stacia Craft, a Federal Street resident, called the cobblestones’ traffic-calming properties “miraculous.”
“When the streets were dug up, cars went as slow as a bridesmaid’s procession,” Craft said.
Salem is no stranger to the consequences of speeding: In 2009, a World War II veteran, Philias Verrette, was raking leaves when a car struck and killed him in front of his Mason Street home.
And in 2011, a vehicle struck a McIntire district woman at an Essex Street crosswalk.
Salem police records show no accidents at the intersection of Lynn, Bridge, and River — where the old cobblestones were uncovered — in the past decade. Still, residents agree speeding cars are an issue.
But as the city seeks to comply with policies that aim to make roads equally accessible to pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit users, and drivers, some residents and city officials said cobblestones may actually hinder street safety.
“While I agree with Mr. Carr that the recently uncovered cobblestones might be aesthetically pleasing, the primary function of that intersection is that of a public street, so it must be passable and safe to car, bicycle, and foot traffic,” said Rick Johnson, a fellow River Street resident.
City Councilor-at-Large William Legault said pedestrians have sued the city after tripping and injuring themselves on cobblestone paths.
“We’re a historic city,” Legault said, “but we need to maintain a balance for what’s safe and what’s sensible.”
In an attempt to reach a compromise between history and modern safety standards, Driscoll halted the Lynn Street paving June 7 and discussed the matter with McIntire residents, said Dominick Pangallo, the mayor’s chief of staff. After a late June meeting at the much-disputed intersection, the mayor decided to leave two 48-inch-wide and 18-foot-long cobblestone strips across Lynn and River streets, in addition to a 7- by 10-foot triangular island at the center of the intersection. Stonemasons reset the cobblestones and placed them on their sides.
The repaving budget for Lynn Street was initially $27,120, Pangallo said. The city’s engineering department estimates the cobblestone work will add $20,000 to the project — about 74 percent more than the original budget.
The island and cobblestone strips will act as a traffic-calming feature, said Knowlton, the city engineer.
But residents are not entirely pleased by the compromise.
Some neighbors said the traffic-calming measures may prove ineffective, because the cobblestone speed bumps are at the end of River Street, slowing cars only after they have whizzed through the neighborhood.
“It’s window-dressing,” Carr said. “It’s like putting a speed bump on the last leg of the Indianapolis 500.”
Inside his house, 18th century figurines posed in their porcelain petticoats, standing, silent, on the mantle as a grandfather clock ticked the time.
“Fifty years from now, I’m not going to be here,” Carr said. “But the cobbles will survive.”
But for others, the New England of yesteryear is a memory that should stay in the past.
“It’s not appropriate anymore to use,” said Jeff Bellin, chairman of the Salem Bicycling Advisory Committee. “We don’t have horse and carriages anymore.”
Rosa Nguyen can be reached at rosa.nguyen@globe.com.