Advice needed on fixing a badly rutted road

[SRMN8R]

I have a couple of stretches of road on my property that have been ignored for years, and are now badly rutted.

The worst section is about 75 yards long and is maybe a 15* down slope. The ruts both cross and run down the road bed, which is about 3' below grade. The ruts range from about 8" deep to over 2'.

The second section is a side slope of about 10 - 15* with a large rut on the downhill side that is 3 - 4' deep. I have filled this rut with some pine trees, but I need to cut out some of the hill side to make the road more navigable.

At some point, I will rent a dozer or hire an operator for a few days. Right now, I need to get these sections of road navigable for the short term.

On the first section I mentioned, I was thinking about filling the ruts with some rip rap or some large stone from the property, and then add fill dirt over it, followed by grading with the box grader.

On the second section, I'm pretty much at a loss. Maybe use the FEL to cut out some of the slope, working from the bottom to the top?

I'm running a Kubota L3200. I know pictures would help, but I don't have any right now. Should be able to get some this weekend.

 

[bcp]

The ruts both cross and run down the road bed, which is about 3' below grade.

However you rebuild them, grade the road so water runs off the side, not the length of the road. If you can't, consider moving the road. You will never win the battle against water if it collects and runs down the length of the road, unless you build a flat bottom concrete ditch.

Bruce

 

[Recoveryhill]

Yes...dirt roads, especially on slopes are not about the dirt, they are all about the water. The largest maintainer of dirt roads in the country is the U.S. Forest Service. I can't offer a link but it shouldn't be hard to locate their information on construction and maintenance of dirt roads. It is very good information with photos and all.

There's really nothing you can do that will last if you have substantial flow of rainwater moving downhill on the road. I maintain over a half mile of mountain dirt leading to my place and pieces are impossible to get water off the road so I try to keep it to the uphill side in a ditch. If you have very steep slopes on the down mountain side, too much running off that way can create a washout, worse than a rut, believe me. Where I have more level spots I create drainage pools on the ditch side that collect the water and soil that has run downhill. After things dry out, I harvest the soil from there and move it back uphill onto the road.

After every major rain event and lacking that, once a month I grade the road to cure water damage and also to keep the wheel tracks from getting lower than the road surface which would create a new and undesirable path for future water.

Warning: A lot of dozer guys do not grasp proper drainage. Educate yourself, have a plan and talk it over with whoever does major work on your road and if you don't get a good feeling, look elsewhere.

 

[MESSMAKER]

Some people add a "deadman" or a small speed bump running across the road to turn the water before a rut can start. It works well, but it limits travel speed.

 

[rd_macgregor]

Some people add a "deadman" or a small speed bump running across the road to turn the water before a rut can start. It works well, but it limits travel speed.

There are various kinds of diversion or channel structures like this, usually called "water bars". In addition to making traffic slow down a bit (not necessarily a bad thing!), they might also make it a bit more of a fiddle to grade the road. I've also seen wooden channel structures (open-top culverts) embedded flush with the road surface, but I think these would make grading even more challenging than a straightforward water bar; I also read that they need maintenance or they can clog, then overflow and cause rilling (or worse) in the road.
There has been lots of research and publication on forest road water diversion/control; a Google search would leave you buried in info to wade through an find the best combination of approaches for your situation.

 

[/pine]

Rather than raising a diverter (creating an unwanted speed bump) I usually opt for an angled swale with wide mellow shoulders...This allows the float of a 3ph attachment (box or rear blade etc.) to follow the grade without disturbing the elevations...
Controlling storm water run-off is the bane of mountainous land owners...The slower you can keep the flow of run-off the less erosion occurs...pitching a lane rather than crowning (and ditching both sides and usually requiring a culvert at some point) forces the water to flow across a lane rather than down the hills etc. has worked best for me...

 

[RedNeckRacin]

the only problem with pitching a road is sliding off the road when you lose traction! Generally a 1% pitch is not enough to divert the water and the steeper the hill the more pitch it needs to get it off the road. If there is any chance of snow, do not pitch the road out or dont use the road in the winter time. PSU Dirt and Gavel Road Resource

The main thing is your scour velocity and keeping water in sheet flow as much as possible. You need stone, and you need a means of controlling the water speed as well as limiting concentrating the flow. Dig that tree out of the washout, wood does not make a good fill, your forever going to be fighting a soft spot there. Conveyor belting is a good way of directing water off the side of a road while not interfering with vehicle access. There are tons of ideas out there. PA DEP has a Best Management Practice guideline that we have to use when constructing roads. Same things work better and are cheaper than others.

 

[SRMN8R]

I understand the theories of slope and have installed plenty of water bars on trails and other farm roads. I guess I'm just not sure of the following:

1. With the existing large ruts, is it best to fill them with large stone and then cover with fill dirt and grade over the fill? Of course, I will install ditches and waterbars.

2. On the horizontally sloped road, what is the preferred method of attack for cutting the slope down - using only a box grader and FEL on an L3200 Kubota? My thought is to work from the bottom of the hill toward the top, moving dirt from the high side to the low side as I progress.

This will only be temporary so I can more safely move physically challenged hunters to stands. After the hunting season, I will bring in a dozer to provide a more permenant solution.

 

[rd_macgregor]

It sounds like you already know what you need to do, just need to figure out the best way to do it. I think I would also try to work uphill, assuming you can do it through the ruts. The ultimate fix-it tool will be the dozer.
I found a nice design/maintenance overview document: http://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/VT/JS655VT_FillableForm.pdf

 

[SRMN8R]

Figuring out the best way to do things is always the challenge! Thanks for that link. Figure 2 is especially helpful for visualizing what I need to accomplish.