That Flaky White Brick Stuff

I drove across town today and saw that sections of the bricks on Lucinda are ripped out.

I asked back in 2006 about how long bricks last, what happens to snow removal, and referenced Lucinda, so I can say I told them so.

You pointing out Lucinda Drive is a perfect example of why we shouldn't be using pavers for a parking lot in Illinois. The pavers that were used in the median have not even been driven on. They are crumbling merely due to heat to cold change, moisture above and below the pavers, and of course the winter salt. The pavers being used today are a far cry from the road bricks that our forefathers of the city used for 2nd and 3rd streets here in DeKalb. Those bricks will go another 100 years. I give the parking lot 10 if we are lucky.

The city has said that they will stop salting the parking lot pavers but unless they close the parking lot to vehicles it will be impossible. The vehicles coming into the lot from salted city streets bring in plenty enought salt to do damage. The salt also seeps down into the paver base and works on the pavers from that direction. By the way, this is also the main reason for the efflorescence. No stopping the white powder City of DeKalb.

This made me think of another example of a civilization from thousands of years ago that drove themselves into 'bankruptcy,' the Indus Valley Civilization (2600-1900 B.C.) from what is today India and Pakistan:
http://www.mohenjodaro.net/index.html

The people of the Indus Valley built cities with millions of bricks, and were highly organized yet there is evidence that the people stopped occupying their cities. According to one theory as to why this culture did not continue, trees used for fuel in baking bricks were mostly gone in about a hundred mile radius around the cities. Imagine having to go all the way to eastern Iowa, Waukegan, or Madison, Wisconsin with an ox cart to find firewood to cook or bake more bricks. That would be a 'bankrupting' of natural resources.

Then there are the bricks in the median in Lucinda that are coming off. I hate that median on Lucinda. The visibility of pedestrians and other cars is severely reduced. A lot of people still call trying to cross Lucinda "Frogger" from the old video game. The median on Annie Glidden between the train bridge and Resource Bank is better, until more of the vegetation grows. At least there will probably be fewer pedestrians on Annie Glidden.

Bricks may look nice but history's Good Roads Movement people quickly moved away from using bricks (and Macadam) in their quest to find more cost efficient and sturdier paving materials. DeKalb's S. E. Bradt must be rolling in his grave.