UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
I BULLETIN No. 373 
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Contribution from the Office of Public Roads and Rural 
Engineering, LOGAN WALLER PAGE, Director. 
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Washington, D. C. 
August 25, 1916 
BRICK ROADS. 1 
By Vernon M. Peiece, Chief of Construction, and Charles H. Moorefield, 
Senior Highway Engineer. 
Introduction 
The raw materials 
The manufacture 
Physical characteristics 
Testing the brick: 
Construction 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
" Monolithic " brick pavements 
Cost of brick pavements 
Maintenance for brick pavements- 
Conclusion 
Appendix A 
Appendix B 
Page. 
21 
22 
24 
25 
26 
34 
INTRODUCTION. 
A clay product closely resembling our present-day brick was among 
the earliest materials used for paving streets and roads. The 
first brick pavement constructed in this country, however, dates back 
no further than 1872, and to Charleston, T\ r . Va., belongs the dis- 
tinction of having been the first American city to employ brick for 
paving. 
For a number of years after being introduced into this country 
the use of paving brick was principally confined to city streets, and, 
owing to the frequent inferiority in the quality of the brick and lack 
of care in construction, very few of the early pavements proved satis- 
factory. Even now, after the experience of 40 years has demon- 
strated that it is entirely practicable to construct satisfactory brick 
pavements when proper care is exercised, and that much waste 
results from the use of poor materials or faulty construction, in- 
stances can frequently be found where comparatively new brick 
pavements have wholly or partially failed from causes which might 
easily have been prevented. (See PL I and PL II.) 
Country roads paved with vitrified brick are becoming quite com- 
mon in many of our States. The principal advantages which brick 
1 A revision of Department Bulletin 246, entitled " Vitrified Brick Pavements for Country 
Roads," 
