I don't see much talk about that self-evident fact. Asphalt sucks in so many ways. What would be a better alternative that needs not worry about cars but mostly bicycles?
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That doesn't work everywhere. The netherlands doesn't experience too many freeze/thaw cycles and their ground doesn't freeze for half the year.
Not being a solution "everywhere" doesn't negate its value, but having lived in the Netherlands and visited Copenhagen myself, I can tell you that paving bricks are applied well in both places and that they hold up just fine against frozen weather.
Is there some kind of drainage system under the bricks? If the ground is frozen, id assume meltwater will collect between and under the bricks.
Absolutely there is. Nobody except ignorant homeowners DIYing a patio ever puts pavers directly on dirt; we've known better than that since at least Roman times, if not earlier.
(source)
It's still done the same way today.
Yes, klinkers aren't laid directly on the ground, it usually has a layer of sloped gravel and another layer of sand/fine gravel compacted with a vibrating plate, which prevents water pooling between and beneath them in the first place
But isn't asphalt even more susceptible to frost related damage?
I come from an area with both types of road surfaces and the condition of the asphalt is generally much worse after winter.
A massive part of that is water instrusion under the road or into cracks of the surface itself. The frost also expands the underground material sometimes leading to humps on the road that develop to cracks that make the problems worse and worse.
Exactly.
But so far mainly seen this for asphalt once it is a few years old.
It also is much harder to rectify again for asphalt without tearing it all up and rebuilding it from scratch, leading to the emergency pothole covering cycle of death, ending in the typical uneven patchwork asphalt surfaces l see everywhere.
I've seen a lot of brick driveways and patios warp and heave from the winters in my area. The patios aren't built to the standard of a road of course but asphalt driveways do seem to outlast the brick ones. The brick driveways have the same benefit as the road with increased permeability.
l guess that's the relevant difference. Brick needs good groundwork and proper drainage.
That's the case for the official brick town roads here, some of which are hundreds of years old. (although these really old ones are not nice to ride with a bike on, rough stones with huge gaps)