Drainage Ditch Crossing

[Beltzington]

Looks like I will be laboring on Labor Day. Due to the drought, my pond is way down which affords me the chance for some much needed maintenance. One of the first projects I would like to complete is install a culvert with an 8-foot wide road across the inlet to the pond. There is never more than 18-inches of water in this drainage ditch and now it is almost dry.
Concept is simple, roll a culvert into the ditch and backfill, however this ditch is actually about 10-feet across and 8-feet deep to grade and I was wondering the best economical way to keep the backfill from washing back into the drainage over-time. Would appreciate your thought on the matter, in the mean time I have plenty of fallen trees and branches to remove from the pond.

 

[RDrancher]

I would build some gabion baskets on each end of the trench with compacted dirt fill over heavy plastic sheeting in the center to keep things from washing out. Roll the plastic up the backside of the gabions to keep the dirt from filtering back through the rock and into the pond. This would be very inexpensive if you have any rock available on your property. You don't need to get extravagant for the wire to form the baskets. Depending on the size of the rock, heavy chicken wire type material or rolled concrete mesh (welded wire) would work fine.

 

[Beltzington]

Thanks RDrancher, I had seen these before but did not know they were called gabions, found allot of interesting information about them on the web and while I do not think I will use them on all of the backfilled slope I believe I am going to give the a try as a base on the ends of the culverts to contain the aggregate fill. I am afraid it is going to take much more backfill then anticipated. This weekend I started cleaning the drainage by removing some tree branches from the ditch and sank into the muck up to my knee. Not sure what it is going to take to firm up the base to keep the culvert from sinking in the mud once the is some weight on top of it.

 

[bearhawk]

How about a simple bridge? Sink a few posts and run some rough cut across the ditch.

 

[RDrancher]

Thanks RDrancher, I had seen these before but did not know they were called gabions, found allot of interesting information about them on the web and while I do not think I will use them on all of the backfilled slope I believe I am going to give the a try as a base on the ends of the culverts to contain the aggregate fill. I am afraid it is going to take much more backfill then anticipated. This weekend I started cleaning the drainage by removing some tree branches from the ditch and sank into the muck up to my knee. Not sure what it is going to take to firm up the base to keep the culvert from sinking in the mud once the is some weight on top of it.

You are quite welcome.

You can also use a long topless gabion cage base to contain rocks along the bottom below the pipe. I have used 3"-minus recycled concrete for this. The larger aggregate will stay in the cage. Some of the smaller aggregates and fines will sift through the cage to help firm up the bottom. It also helps to place and compact a healthy layer of dirt (clay if possible) over the rocks before placing the pipe to discourage leaks.

 

[Beltzington]

As usual I tend to over think these things, this began as me going to throw a few sandbags into the ditch to dam any water flow for the purpose of allowing my pond to dry out. After cleaning out some brush I thought wouldn't it be great to be able to drive my tractor over the ditch onto the back of my property to remove all the old fallen trees and mend the fence, starting this search for the "best" method. Here is a picture of my personal Everest, the grade change, need to be able and block the water-flow, weight bearing requirements and cost eliminated a bridge. I have plenty of clay but unfortunately it is firmly attached to the earth in a concrete like manner, I started calling today to find fill and found out places that sell aggregate don't deliver and dump truck companies are too busy to answer the phone. The quest continues, thanks for your ideas.

 

[Pete Judd]

Belz, I just put a piece of 32 inch culvert in one of my year around creeks. Building up around the entrance and exit with old treated boards to hold the pit run that I had delivered from falling into the creek. Will post pic's in a couple of days when the project is finished.