Restoring wagon road - need ideas

[lhfarm]

Pictured is a section of wagon road that was used up until the 1950s to get to our farm site. The original house on the site was disassembled and moved down this road around 1912 to a location closer to the school. My wife's grandfather continued to farm the "hill" until the depression. In the mid-50s, a new residential lake was built near by and new roads built around the lake that allowed my father-in-law to build a home on the original site.

We want to keep the wagon road, as part of the history of the place. This section is a steep downhill, cut into the side of the hill. To the left, in the picture is a drop-off. Behind the jeep, the road curves to this section, The road has eroded to a "V". As you can see, looking at the space under the jeep, the bottom of the "V" is very deep - 2' at the extreme. I can get the jeep and tractor through here, by straddling the the ditch. But it is very difficult walking the primary use of the trail today and on the wife's "fix it" list.

I'm thinking I might use my box blade to rip up the downhill side (left side in the pictures) and try to level out the road. I may be able to haul in some fill from another project. I know I'll need to figure out water control. There is water run-off from the top and right side. I've been considering cutting slots in the bank on the left, with log sections in the road to redirect the run off. I think I can use my BH for this part.

Suggestions or ideas? I don't have access to a dozer and I'd like to use the equipment I have if possible. I can take more pictures next weekend if that would help.

Thanks,

[Defective]

I had a road that looked much like that on my Huntsville place. I eventually left the deep rut as a ditch & re-cut the road in along one side. Is this an option for you?

[teg]

Are you trying to make the road usable or preserving history? To make it usable, you need to manage the water with side ditches & water bars.

Do you have a box blade with ripper teeth? or you can use just a scrape blade. Tilt one side down pretty far and start ripping the side of the hill. The dirt will roll out into the low side. How bad are the rocks around there? As long as you don't hit bedrock, fill and pack the middle of the ditch and create two new side ditches on the outside edges. If you have fill dirt, you can use that too.

[lhfarm]

I had a road that looked much like that on my Huntsville place. I eventually left the deep rut as a ditch & re-cut the road in along one side. Is this an option for you?

Much of this road, along with the rural mail route road that follows the section line is 2' or more below grade in several sections. My father-in-law talked about using mud-sleds in the winter and spring to haul supplies on the roads and I'm sure that caused a lot of the wear. That and many decades of use. Re-cutting the road might be an option, but I would like to try fixing it first.

Are you trying to make the road usable or preserving history? To make it usable, you need to manage the water with side ditches & water bars.

Do you have a box blade with ripper teeth? or you can use just a scrape blade. Tilt one side down pretty far and start ripping the side of the hill. The dirt will roll out into the low side. How bad are the rocks around there? As long as you don't hit bedrock, fill and pack the middle of the ditch and create two new side ditches on the outside edges. If you have fill dirt, you can use that too.

My box blade does have rippers and I think that will be my first tool. There is a lot of sandstone and a couple of large trees with roots that extend into the road. Since it will be a walking path/jeep trail, it doesn't have to be perfect. I would like to preserve as much of the original as possible. I think the middle drawing is what I need to shoot for.
BTW, at the bottom of this section is a "saddle" where a shot ridge exists before the next set of hills. So I should be able to handle run-off from both ditches without having to cross the road.

Thanks for the advice.

[tommu56]

I second the notion of water bars I put them in my right of way last year and they slowed the erosion substantially the only thing I didn't do was taper the lead in (just not enough vacation days) so it is like a reverse speed bump

good link on building roadshttp://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/docwatershed/camproad.pdf

tom

[sandman2234]

Due to the amount of depth your going to have to go to on the side ditches, I think I would start with something like a middlebuster rather than a boxblade. That is provided you can get the tractor over far enought to work each edge. Might save a little time, because cutting an edge with the boxblade is going to be a pain. Not impossible, just a pain. I don't think I have ever seen an offset middlebuster, but if you could do it, it would make it easier. An offset might tend to want to bend your lift arms if your not careful, so consider that also. A double middlebuster on a very strong crossmember would be better, spread out to do both sides at once, but manuevering in those trees with it would be next to impossible.
David from jax

[lhfarm]

Due to the amount of depth your going to have to go to on the side ditches, I think I would start with something like a middlebuster rather than a boxblade. That is provided you can get the tractor over far enought to work each edge. Might save a little time, because cutting an edge with the boxblade is going to be a pain. Not impossible, just a pain. I don't think I have ever seen an offset middlebuster, but if you could do it, it would make it easier. An offset might tend to want to bend your lift arms if your not careful, so consider that also. A double middlebuster on a very strong crossmember would be better, spread out to do both sides at once, but manuevering in those trees with it would be next to impossible.
David from jax

I have a BH. Maybe I should use that on the side ditches, at least to do the edge work. Tom's suggested reading has helped me at least visiualize what I need to do.

[sandman2234]

I missed the mention of a BH in your first post. With that, everything changes. Won't be near as much work as with a boxblade.
David from jax