Creating an Entrance

[EddieWalker]

One of the reasons I bought my land was it's frontage on a state highway. The gate was buried in trees and nearly invisable to anybody passing by.

My first move was to start openening it up by taking out a hundred trees or so. This photo shows the beginnings of the tree clearing.

 

[EddieWalker]

Taking out the trees was the easy part. Disposing of them was the hard part. No market value, so I burned them. The fire lasted for weeks. Even when it was raining, it would burn. Everyday, I'd add a few more trees to keep it going.

 

[EddieWalker]

The land had one entrance and I wanted a seperate entrance and exit. I contacted Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) and they told me the requirements and issued a permit.

Coming from California, I was amazed at how easy it was.

I had to have a 40 foot culvert 24 inches wide with slopeing ends. A week after getting the permit, I saw one for sale in the classified ads for $300. He even delivered it for that price. The slopeing ends were around $250 for the pair.

It took a couple hundred yard of dirt to cover the culvert and create my driveway.

 

[EddieWalker]

TXDOT required a surface on top of the driveway, so I put 25 tons of limestone on top until I'm ready to pave it.

This is how it remained over the winter.

 

[EddieWalker]

I ran 20 amps of power to the entrance and exit for lights and outlets. The outlets are for Christmas lights along the fence I'll install.

The columns are set on concrete pads 25 feet apart.

 

[EddieWalker]

This is 1,000 feet of three rail vinyl fence I picked up north of Dallas. By picking it up and buying in bulk, I got it for $3.25 a foot.

I only needed 300 feet for this project, but will need another 1,200 feet for another project.

 

[EddieWalker]

My little tractor is a Century 2535. It works great at drilling holes!!! My auger is 12 inches, and I wish it was bigger.

The holes are 8 feet apart and almost everyone needed trimming up by hand. I just don't have a clue on getting them strait. Especially when I hit a root or rock.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry for the shot of my dad's but. Hahaha

Once we got the holes strait and lined up, we would put the fene together. That was the easy part. Since this fence is strictly ornamental, I just filled the holes with the clay that came out.

You can see my outlet at the bottom of the column. There is another wire going through the middle for a future light on the top.

 

[Mark4510]

Sounds like TX is much easier to get things done. We were looking at 55 acres here in CA and just to get a gravel road in(where an existing dirt road was) I was going to have to get permits and approvals from Fish and Game, county planning, Mapping, Army Corps, Community development, Environmental health, County assessor and Public works.

Not worth it......

Bet you are glad to be in TX.
Mark

 

[EddieWalker]

This is what the fence looks like. I think its very striking and offers the look I'm after with minimum maintenance.

Next is to wrap the columns in rock.