Anyone have water on driveway problems?

[MMagis]

Over the years I've worked mine to slant toward the ditch. That way it immediately flows to the ditch instead of down the driveway.

 

[3RRL]

I too fight the water run-off each year so I feel your pain.
I've used the backhoe to dig around culverts and used rocks in the trenches/ditches to slow the water down. I cut gutters with my boxblade tilted. I start at a culvert and drag away from it. I pile the dirt where I exit and fix that up later. Other places without culverts, I drag the boxblade into a recess which dumps into a meadow or some other place besides the road. I know I've shared these photos many times, but here they are again.
Rob-

 

[/pine]

It is hard to tell from the pictures but looking at the runn-off it appears there is zero crown to the road?

 

[Dargo]

Over the years I've worked mine to slant toward the ditch. That way it immediately flows to the ditch instead of down the driveway.

For about 15 years I had a constant battle with my roughly 1/4 mile long driveway, especially in late winter and early spring. If I could keep a good crown to the driveway it really helped. My problem was that I'd constantly put my box blade on and get rid of my pot holes (that also got mushy if they were allowed to hold water). The problem was that my 7' wide box blade cut the center crown out of my driveway as it filled the pot holes. For a short while it would be really nice, smooth and flat. Then it would get mushy after snow melts or a few days of rain. The only way to keep it solid was to get the water away from the drive surface.

It took me a while to realize where all my gravel was going, but I finally figured it out with the help of someone telling me. You know all that dust that flies off of your drive when it's dry? That's what's left of your gravel after it's ground against itself by vehicles driving on the surface. Your gravel turns to powder, it doesn't get pushed deeper into the ground as I thought. Duh! The end result was that I'd need at least a tri-axle or two of gravel added each year. At about $250 to $300 per load out to my place, that was really starting to add up and there was no end in sight.

After a lot of hand wringing and mental anguish as to how to best remedy the situation, I finally bit the bullet and came up with what I hope lasts my lifetime. This solution was really more complicated than normal since I own some relatively heavy equipment and I knew that I'd have dozens of concrete trucks running up and down my drive over the years as I finished my new barn and parking areas along with the upcoming project of digging a footer around the edge of about half of my lake and installing a retaining wall. Anyway, here is my solution in the pictures.

 

[beenthere]

Three things:

Put a crown in the roadway (drive) so the water runs to the side.

Put a ditch along both sides for the water to drain down hill to a culvert at the lowest spot so it can cross the road in the culvert.

Do this work when it is dry and not a mud bowl.

Three simple things that take care of the simple thing about water....it runs downhill seeking the lowest spot. If the low spot is your drive, that is where it will go. All that, but again, the roof doesn't leak until it rains.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Thanks everyone for your help. Yesterday I went down the driveway to see how my ditch was doing. I make one go down the right side as there is a fork in the road and we didnt want the water to run across the driveway and onto the neighbors driveway. Yeah, the crown on our driveway has dissapeard partially from grading it with a large cat last summer and the skidsteer. My ditch so far has preformed well, keeping the water to the right side. We also have a natural spring running throught the pasture and it dumps its water into my ditch as well. The ditch runs off at the bottom and into a stream. Since the water is off the driveway, i used my rear blade to get the gravel loose and level then my 6' harrow to get the finished product. I believe I graded at the right time as in the summer the driveway is harder than pavement and in the winter it is really soft. I did notice a little runoff coming down fron the road so i used the blade to make a small ditch to the right side for water to run down. The left side already has a ditch. So, now that the water is pretty much contained and the road is smooth, all I have to do is wait and see what happens in 2 weeks. It was 2 weeks ago I dug my original ditch, so far, its worked and I got to play with my middle buster. This morning, I loaded up my rear blade for my job next weekend. I can wait!

 

[beenthere]

jd3720
In your pics just posted, I don't detect any crown. The last pic seems to show a flat graded road bed that has sides to it that will contain any water in the road, and not let it drain to the sides.
The crown I maintained when I had the gravel drive had at least 10" of height to it in the center, realative to the edges of the 10-12' wide bed, and then dropped off into the ditch on each side. Even then, I had to watch carefully that the car traffic didn't pack the two wheel tracks down enough to cause water to start following (and eroding) those tracks. If the water doesn't run off the drive, it will either run the tracks or soak into the drive and make it unstable.
You will learn these things in time, and it was something I had to learn over time. Good luck, as there is fun in the learning, as it means tractor time.

 

[dave1949]

I think you are making progress, but as beenthere pointed out, more crown may be in order.

Can you offset the rear blade to reach over and pull the edges into the driveway? Then make another pass and move that toward the middle? Then repeat on the other side of the drive. You will get some leaves and dirt, that will wash out as long as it is not too much dirt.
Dave.

 

[Egon]

jd3720:

Put some Gauge wheels on the back blade. That will make a big difference in what you can do with it. It makes it possible to crown and properly lay out material on the road.

As suggested off setting to one side would really help in getting a ditch established.

Can't really tell but would a culvert or two in the right places help?

 

[nhkabotab7800]

i was in my drive the other day and all of a sudden....i also thought it would be better if it was oil.

i'm still pondering how i am going to fix my driveway water issue it freezes every winter. i'm thinking about putting in some perferated pipe surrounded with gravel...

i have a friend that got some real thick rope ( like 3 or 4 inches ) that he lays out on his drive in the spring to control driveway washout. he removes it for the winter when he needs to plow.