Crash victims remembered with memorial bricks

Delaware’s Department of Transportation is reminding those who lost loved ones and friends to traffic fatalities that one way to honor them is by having a brick put into the Memorial Garden in Smyrna.

There are over 600 bricks in the garden located at the Smyrna rest stop on Route 13 near the Route 1 Smyrna exit.  The garden began in 2007.  The idea was to cut down on the number of roadside memorials that kept popping up around Delaware.  It’s actually illegal to set up those types of memorials.  The garden is meant to honor those killed in car crashes and to do so safely.

The bricks are free and can be ordered any time of the year.  However, a DelDot spokesperson says bricks ordered before December 22nd will be among those installed in early 2011.  Brick orders are verified through the Delaware State Police or the Office of Vital Statistics before they are installed.

First presented the issue of the roadside memorial and why the garden was created.  The 11,000 square foot garden is open 365 days a year.