Dirt Moving Meandering creek...

[theboman]

Thats a tough situation for sure. Over the years the road I grew up on in front of my mothers and brothers houses has both lost front yard due to the stream by the highway. They highway dept. had dumped limestone and of the years the family has used logs, rock, whatever.... Nothing is helping... it's now taking the yards and eating underneath the road.

 

[MarkV]

In the photo album of the creek you show an old dam. Is that before or after the bad spot in the road?

MarkV

 

[kjung17]

Have you considered having the undercut bank lined with sheet piling to stop the erosion? You'd have to have someone drive the piling, but the repair would last for years.

 

[Travelover]

I had a similar problem at my last house and I solved it by building a stacked wall of broken concrete about 5 feet tall, wide at the bottom, narrow at the top. I just kept my eye out for free broken concrete and dumped load after load near the edge, then carefully stacked it in place. I even found a contractor that would drop off clean broken concrete by the dump truck load. It looked pretty good when I was done. My neighbor was lazy and just dumped piles of concrete and his side looked like a concrete dump.

This was about 25 years ago. I was by there a few years ago and the wall was still intact.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Creeks and rivers meander from cut bank to cut bank over time (geologic time that is). The forces at work are often tremendous, and the science is complex. What happens up-stream affects the meandering downstream. Don't be surprised if what seems to be an obvious solution does not last in the long run. It is the big rains that get you.

I know this may not be information you want to hear, but you should consider either employing a specialist, or educate yourself on civil engineering stream banks.

 

[dnels0n]

In the photo album of the creek you show an old dam. Is that before or after the bad spot in the road?

MarkV

That is after the "convergence area".

dwn

 

[rdsaustintx]

"geomorphology"

My partner here (engineering company) is a hydrologist. In soft soils with fast water the creek channel will move, as you are seeing, lots of scour on the outside bank. On the inside bank silt settles.

Fastest solution is armor the outside with rip rap. Lots of it. If you want a little more margin, stack battered gabions then bury it it with rip rap.

If you want a retaining wall, get it engineered. If you want to use locking blocks, at least get the footing engineered. The trick with any rigid retention is preventing undermining. On critical walls they inspect every couple of years and pump grout into the voids.

The hydrologists like to say, "You are fighting nature, all erosion control is temporary." Best expected life is reinforced concrete (50 years), but you can get a couple of decades out of stacked gabions.

Good suggestions here but would strongly recommend against timber.

Edit: Your place is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[brahman265]

I too have been battling creek erosion for many years. Actually have had good success cutting a straighter path with a dozier but you have to keep an eye out as over time the water will cut back to the original path. As a low cost option I have had success attaching cedar trees (lots of limbs) to the creek bank and over time quite a lot of sediment and debris will build up. I drive a t post into the bank and attach the tree with heavy wire. I got this idea from an internet search on creek bank erosion. Anyway good luck.

 

[MarkV]

That is after the "convergence area".

dwn

Makes me wonder if removing that obstruction would let the water move more freely without backing up and eroding that bank. Anyone have any thoughts?

MarkV

 

[ShenandoahJoe]

That picture of the "tropical event" makes me pessimistic. When my river looks like that, it's moved 2-foot rocks half a mile downstream, and ripped my deadmen completely out of the bank. I asked the county forester if there was something I could plant that would grow in the years between deluges. He just laughed.

The bridge is looking like your best shot. Do you know somebody who will sell you one?