Rainwater washing out my NEW road

[Boeing]

The latest,
met with the developer and during a rain we walked the road....pointing out lack of ditches, culverts, the steep incline coming out of a 120 degree turn etc. He agreed with everything and suggested "splitting" the cost.:thumbsup:
THEN....he met with his road contractor......who had done the work. The contractor has convinced him that ditches are NOT NECESSARY, (will just become wider and deeper becoming a hazard). He wants to bring in tons of gravel making a CROWN the entire length of the road and me sign a release of all future resposibility.
BTW, the cause of the road problem....not lack of ditches or culverts but ME....the OWNER....I was not up there at least "weekly" to drive on this new road with thin gravel to pack it down properly and "maintain" it. And they don't address the turn and climb at all. (quote "most people have 4 wheel drives")

Now there is a new arguement with the developer wanting to share the cost of the "cheapest method possible" and his offended contractor who says it was built properly and is my fault.
We have a three way meeting at the road Thursday, developer, contractor and me..... fun, fun, fun

 

[rScotty]

The latest,
met with the developer and during a rain we walked the road....pointing out lack of ditches, culverts, the steep incline coming out of a 120 degree turn etc. He agreed with everything and suggested "splitting" the cost.:thumbsup:
THEN....he met with his road contractor......who had done the work. The contractor has convinced him that ditches are NOT NECESSARY, (will just become wider and deeper becoming a hazard). He wants to bring in tons of gravel making a CROWN the entire length of the road and me sign a release of all future resposibility.
BTW, the cause of the road problem....not lack of ditches or culverts but ME....the OWNER....I was not up there at least "weekly" to drive on this new road with thin gravel to pack it down properly and "maintain" it. And they don't address the turn and climb at all. (quote "most people have 4 wheel drives")

Now there is a new arguement with the developer wanting to share the cost of the "cheapest method possible" and his offended contractor who says it was built properly and is my fault.
We have a three way meeting at the road Thursday, developer, contractor and me..... fun, fun, fun

Sounds like a conflict between what you need, maybe a contract, and somereasonable expectations. Surely you have an old buddy who is familiar with road building. An old civil engineer or farmer would do. Preferably someone with lots of experience...maybe retired. Get him to go meet with them too.
FYI, a crown is always better than a ditch. It does the same thing but essentially makes all the surrounding land into a ditch. But it's very expensive to do. That's why ditches are popular.

Yes, any dirt road needs to be driven on to keep it compacted. He's right about that. The builder does it initially with heavy equipment and then you need to maintain it. Even if you can drive on it often enough to keep it compacted so it sheds water you can still expect to have to do some roadwork annually. A few dump truck loads of special road base annually and compaction of same are typical for dirt/gravel roads. More work is required where there is a rainy season & runoff. And even more so where there are switchbacks.

As for the switchbacks themselves, the terrain dictates that. Switchback construction can be very difficult without turning the whole property into a driveway.
rScotty