VITRIFIED BRICK PAVEMENTS FOR COUNTRY ROADS. 21 
If care is exercised to correct all defects which appear within the 
first few years of the life of a well-constructed brick pavement, the 
work of maintaining the pavement proper should thereafter, except 
for cleaning, be almost negligible for a considerable period. The 
shoulders and drainage structures, of course, need occasional atten- 
tion, just as in the case of any other pavement, but if they are properly 
constructed at the start repairs will usually be very slight. 
The life of a well-constructed brick pavement can not be estimated 
with any great degree of exactness, first, because the traffic condi- 
tions are constantly changing, and, second, because no brick pave- 
ment which has been constructed in accordance with the best modern 
practice has yet worn out. Such measurements as have been made of 
the amounts of wear sustained by given pavements during compara- 
tively long periods of years have not been sufficient to warrant any 
very definite conclusions as to the probable terms of service, though 
they indicate that good paving brick wear very slowly under ordi- 
nary traffic. It is evident that in order to secure the full benefit of 
this excellent resistance to wear the surface of the pavement must not 
be permitted to become uneven because of the failure of a brick here 
and there. 
CONCLUSION. 
Before concluding this discussion of brick pavements, it would 
seem desirable to emphasize the importance of proper engineering 
supervision. In the past many communities have expended large 
sums in efforts to improve their public highways without first having 
secured the services of some one competent to plan and direct the 
work. The results have usually been very unsatisfactory under such 
circumstances and have frequently served to discourage further effort. 
One of the mistakes most commonly observed consists in constructing 
some expensive type of pavement on a road where the location is 
faulty or the grades are impracticable. Not infrequently sharp angles 
in the alignment or abrupt changes in the grade, which might be 
easily and inexpensively remedied by an experienced engineer, are 
left to impede traffic throughout the life of a costly and perhaps 
durable pavement. 
Even in constructing common earth roads it is doubtful economy 
to dispense with the services of a competent engineer, and if any 
considerable quantity of work is to be done, such services should 
certainly be secured. Since brick pavements are probably more ex- 
pensive to construct than any other type of pavement at present used 
for country roads, it is all the more important that their construction 
should be carefully planned and well executed. 
