Berm Building

[RPM]

I have a minor state road running along one portion of my property line for a couple of hundred feet. The road curves at this point and my better half is concerned about cars coming to visit that part of the property uninvited and at high speed. Of course, this is where the kids like to play the most.

Originally (when we moved in a few months ago) the idea was to put some boulders along the road edge to achieve this goal. However, we just heard back from a friend who checked with his insurance agent and attorney and that's not a good idea for legal reasons in PA.

So, next idea is a bank or berm along that stretch. Does anyone have any experience doing this? The land is flat, so I would have to think I would have the dirt brought in and then I would play with it with my BX. Sounds like a lot of dirt though ...

I would welcome any constructive comments on the topic ...

 

[RobS]

RPM, the property we bought has a new road along one edge that the developer put in. This will become a county road this year. In making the road, he pulled the topsoil off to each side leaving big piles. He intends to sell the topsoil but we worked out a deal to have it graded into a berm. The grading contactor used a Case dozer and took about a half day to do it. Based on what I saw, I'd recommend hiring this out or renting a dozer. In our case, the dirt was already there, but it will take an enormous amount of dirt to get a berm of any consequence. Here's a picture of my tractor with the dirt piles across the road in the background. Dirt As big as these pile are, we ended up with a berm only 2-4 feet high all along our property. I wanted it graded gently enough to be able to mow it so it's maybe 20-30 feet wide.

Like anything else, a compact could do it, but it would take an awfully long time and add a lot of tough hours to your tractor. I did do the final ground prep work with my tractor and landscape rake. Just planted grass on it last weekend/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

PS, sorry about the picture. I pulled it off my original tractor photo post and it seems to have shrunk.

 

[GlueGuy]

RPM,

Well, I'm not sure how big a berm you want to build, but you're potentially talking about a huge amount of material. I ran a quick calculation, and came up with the following (very rough) estimate:

Assuming that you want the berm 200' long, and 10' high, you would be talking about a base that was approximately 20' wide at the base. This means that the cross-sectional area would be about 100 square feet ((20X20)/4). The overall volume of such a berm would be 20,000 cubic feet of material, or 740 cubic yards. Assuming 1.5 tons per yard (volume to tons is widely variable), you're talking about over 1,100 tons of material. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

That's a heap-o-dirt buddy! I would say that is serious hard labor for your BX. Maybe you've got something smaller in mind? Let us know exactly what size of berm you want to build....

The GlueGuy

 

[Boondox]

Moving dirt with a compact is a LOT of work! You'd be old and twisted before you finished. Have you thought about planting some fast growing trees?

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[Rch]

Have you considered hedge barrier like ginnella maples (they turn a spectacular red in the fall). If there is room they can be a permanent snow fence.

RCH

 

[RPM]

Thanks for the responses!

I had a suggestion last night from a local farmer which sounds like it would work (and echoes some of your advice).

He suggested grading a broad, shallow ditch with my back-blade on the property line and then planting some fast growing trees on my side of the ditch (not in it). The thinking being that the ditch will catch some of the run-off from the road and give the trees a boost.

A berm just sounds like too much work. By the time I finished it in 3 years I could have a 9 foot screen of fast growing trees ...

 

[mikim]

Had a friend with a similar problem. He had a road "T" into the road passing his house right at the backyard where his kids played. He called the county and they put up a barrier no cost to him in time or $$.
mike