Rainwater washing out my NEW road

[beppington]

Like others have stated, ditching is critical on the uphill side of your road and simply grading the road and spreading gravel isn't enough as you need a good base such as shale prior to the spreading of any gravel. We have 1/2 mile hilly drive and it is a constant battle to stay on top of it. In spite of the drive maintenance, we still enjoy living on top of our hill! Good luck. :thumbsup:

Wow, that looks expensive!

On the plus side it looks like maybe you're getting some rental income for what looks to be a cellular tower on your property?

 

[joeyd]

I had to put in a new easement road to my neighbors "extra" 10 acres since I used the old one as a driveway to my new pole barn. Here is what I got for $3K through approx. 600' of forested hillside. I only had to put in a rough road not a finished road as that is what I took over. But you can easily see the base rock which came from a small pit on my property so that kept the cost down.

You can see the culvert (black plastic) on the right side of the photo. I am actually going to have it pulled up and reset as the uphill side is not deep enough to collect the water flowing in the ditches.

 

[boomer1025]

Is a dirt road not an all wreather road ? That's what all the township roads were around here till they tarred & chipped them several years ago.
I'd find someone with a road grader, grade in some ditches & crown the road. At this point that would be the cheapest. For the banks & maybe the ditches, I'd plant wheat or oats & cheap grass seed mixed to get things started. That should help stop the erosion problem. Then when time and money allow, re-seed the banks with white clover, tar and chip the ditches and work at getting the rest of the road built to suit.

 

[Egon]

I'd find someone with a road grader, grade in some ditches & crown the road. At this point that would be the cheapest/QUOTE]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[dcyrilc]

Is a dirt road not an all wreather road ? That's what all the township roads were around here till they tarred & chipped them several years ago.
I'd find someone with a road grader, grade in some ditches & crown the road. At this point that would be the cheapest. For the banks & maybe the ditches, I'd plant wheat or oats & cheap grass seed mixed to get things started. That should help stop the erosion problem. Then when time and money allow, re-seed the banks with white clover, tar and chip the ditches and work at getting the rest of the road built to suit.

Boomer has the right idea here. It's amazing what a good grader operator can do in one or two passes. And definately plan on getting some good base rock down this summer if you want it to last.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Ideally the road would have been compacted, then geotextile put down, followed by compacted road base and finally compacted gravel mixed with fines. Alas, doing it right can get costly; but doing it wrong and fixing it can be even more pricey.

The problem with "all weather road" is the term is fairly vague, and what is all weather to one individual is a mud bog to another.

You might check your state's DOT web site to see if they have specs and drawings on how to construct a gravel road for your area.

I've worked on many gravel roads, either tailgating gravel, or working with the grader operators, and I have never seen a single gravel road built as described above. The state might do a base like that for a new asphalt road, but gravel roads are pretty much built as the OP has shown, except with better ditches and culverts to manage the water, and a little more gravel. If I paid $5k for a mile long road in the mountains, and got a road that good, I would be happy. Now you know where the water problems are, and you can address them. I live next to a 3/4 mile long county gravel road, it borders my property. During heavy rains it ruts out pretty good, and it gets ditched and graded several times a year. Gravel roads take maintenance, and more so if there are hills involved.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I've worked on many gravel roads, either tailgating gravel, or working with the grader operators, and I have never seen a single gravel road built as described above. The state might do a base like that for a new asphalt road, but gravel roads are pretty much built as the OP has shown, except with better ditches and culverts to manage the water, and a little more gravel. If I paid $5k for a mile long road in the mountains, and got a road that good, I would be happy. Now you know where the water problems are, and you can address them. I live next to a 3/4 mile long county gravel road, it borders my property. During heavy rains it ruts out pretty good, and it gets ditched and graded several times a year. Gravel roads take maintenance, and more so if there are hills involved.

I agree with buckeyefarmer. The way that some of you have described how this guys road should be built would cost HUGE money. Is this how some of you have your roads done? If so, more power to you. In our area, there are no public let alone private roads constructed as has been described. I suppose that if one has the money then that is great and get it done in that manor. For those of us that do not have that kind of money, well me anyway, I will continue to grade my road every 3-4 months and be happy when I have the chance to do so.

 

[CurlyDave]

I agree with buckeyefarmer. The way that some of you have described how this guys road should be built would cost HUGE money. Is this how some of you have your roads done? ...

My driveway 900-1000' driveway was built with 6" to 24" of base rock depending on how much leveling was required with 6" of 3/4" minus on top of that. Vibratory compactor after. Some of the flatter sections had fabric. Most of it was too steep for fabric.

It was expensive, but it has held up very well.

 

[mjncad]

I've worked on many gravel roads, either tailgating gravel, or working with the grader operators, and I have never seen a single gravel road built as described above. The state might do a base like that for a new asphalt road, but gravel roads are pretty much built as the OP has shown, except with better ditches and culverts to manage the water, and a little more gravel. If I paid $5k for a mile long road in the mountains, and got a road that good, I would be happy. Now you know where the water problems are, and you can address them. I live next to a 3/4 mile long county gravel road, it borders my property. During heavy rains it ruts out pretty good, and it gets ditched and graded several times a year. Gravel roads take maintenance, and more so if there are hills involved.

I agree with buckeyefarmer. The way that some of you have described how this guys road should be built would cost HUGE money. Is this how some of you have your roads done? If so, more power to you. In our area, there are no public let alone private roads constructed as has been described. I suppose that if one has the money then that is great and get it done in that manor. For those of us that do not have that kind of money, well me anyway, I will continue to grade my road every 3-4 months and be happy when I have the chance to do so.

In a perfect world, which we all know doesn't exist. I just hope the OP can get something that is usable, even if it isn't perfect.

 

[rd_macgregor]

One issue that the OP will have to deal with, and which was a problem on my place, is that repeated traffic, especially when the soil is wet, will create depressions/channels in the road that can gather runoff and lead to washouts. Expect this to happen and be ready to correct it (eg recrown the lane). Adding gravel over a number of years can slowly build up the road base until this problem largely disappears, but without a very large front-end investment, you need to expect to do a fair amount of annual maintenance until you can get things stabilized.
Proper crowning, ditching and culverts will help a lot. Bare ground along the road needs to be vegetated to stabilize it. Also, having the brand new, totally uncompacted road surface exposed through the spring thaw is likely the worst-case scenario; with some modest upgrading (and use!), these issues with the road shouldn't be nearly so bad in the future.
BOB