Fixing another gravel drive

[whynot162]

So I live on a steep hill in the Pacific northwest. The recent rain has washed ruts in the road and the gravel down the hill.
Before I have just pulled the gravel back up the hill filling it in with the box blade.
I noticed this year that the road is now looking lower than the surrounding area.
Can I drag the dirt from the side of the road onto the road to lift it and make a better ditch along the road? Then dead the gravel back up over that and add a load of rock. Or is adding the dirt a bad idea

 

[Buggs67]

I share a 1/3 mile common lane with a retired farmer. We usually regrade and refresh the ditches on each side of the road after major storms (we just got 4" in 24 hrs). I'm still learning how to maintain the drive. Personally I prefer what they here call 2A modified (we called QP or quarry process) which has the dust/finings. I think it packs and wears better. IMO some dirt in the gravel makes it a better base, but the key is to maintain a crown and ditches.

We use a rear blade most often to regrade and fix the ditches. I do have a BB for moving material.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

Bad time of year to add dirt in the PNW, rain is here...

Sounds like you need to crown in the spring/summer and do the ditches. At this point in the year all you might be able to do is fill with coarse gravel to let the water run through it ... until it freezes if you are high enough up.

Hmm; crowning is the method of having the center at the highest point and sloped down towards the ditches so water does not pool and sit. It is used in areas that get a lot of rain and seasonal water movement, in case anyone wants to know.

 

[ctgoldwing]

My driveway is about 500' long and has a serious elevation drop in part of it. I used the superelevated curve shown by the previous poster. It worked out great. Here we use what is called 3/4 process with dust. We had a really abnormal year of heavy rains and the driveway stayed intact with no erosion.

 

[nyone]

No matter what the road is used for ditches make the road. With out ditches collecting and moving water away your road is the ditch and susceptible to wash outs, mud, pot holes and major erosion.

You need ditches on the side of the road and the surface to be higher than the surrounding area. How you do this is different in different situations.

 

[LouNY]

I quit trying to crown my long steep driveway many years ago,
I also use the superelevated curve as shown on my two turns.
A crown enough to shed the water off the steep driveway would not be driveable in the winter.
I place "water cuts" in my driveway.
Narrow trenches dug at an angle across the driveway to catch and funnel the water off to the ditch
or over the bank, they work and keep the driveway intact with much less gravel lose
then crowning could ever achieve.
Crowning a drive will work good on flat drives or minor slopes not on steep slopes.

I can put a 3" wide by 3" deep trench across the driveway at a downhill angle with the tractor in nuetral
and riding the brakes to keep it slowed down.

The hard way to do them or even to just clean out existing cuts.

 

[deezler]

My gentle driveway crown and relatively shallow ditches had done a great job of shedding water for several years. But then we got over 6 inches of rain in a single day (most coming in a gnarly 3 hours of deluge). The crown couldn't shed it all (especially on my steepest hill) and the ditches didn't have nearly enough capacity. Most of my top, smaller gravel got washed right off the road, serious bummer when I woke up the next day.

Repaired and no problems since; didn't buy any more gravel. Looks pretty nice again now.

My thread on it:

6" of Rain - Gravel Driveway Catastrophe

Last Friday night delivered a surprisingly intense, narrow band of rainfall to the Southeast Michigan area. After already receiving a 2+" burst during the daytime, a thin band set up on radar and just trained along for ~3 hours during the late evening, bringing another 4-6". I went to bed...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

I quit trying to crown my long steep driveway many years ago,
I also use the superelevated curve as shown on my two turns.
A crown enough to shed the water off the steep driveway would not be driveable in the winter.
I place "water cuts" in my driveway.
Narrow trenches dug at an angle across the driveway to catch and funnel the water off to the ditch
or over the bank, they work and keep the driveway intact with much less gravel lose
then crowning could ever achieve.
Crowning a drive will work good on flat drives or minor slopes not on steep slopes.
View attachment 714983
View attachment 714984

I can put a 3" wide by 3" deep trench across the driveway at a downhill angle with the tractor in nuetral
and riding the brakes to keep it slowed down.

View attachment 714985
The hard way to do them or even to just clean out existing cuts.

Have to be cautious doing that in the PNW, the ground is mostly either red/brown clay or sand underneath, cutting across in those conditions will cause significant erosion channels and wipe out any road within a few hours if enough rain comes down.

If the op is on rock, they would be fine.

Edit: that method works on blue clay as well since it is hydrophobic.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I just moved to a place that has about 2 miles of common and private roads/driveway, Some of it has no top coat, just poor quality crusher run gravel that seems to get worse rather than better when working it. The common driveway which has a proper top coat of 3/4 to dust is shared primarily by three homes is badly wash boarded in places. The tools I have are a box blade, a drag harrow, back blade and a rock rake. I worked on part of it a few weeks ago with the harrow and box blade and improved it a lot, but my neighbor worries that he won't be able to get his truck home if I work on the wash boarded hills. ( I think if I smooth the washboards his truch wiuld have a less tendency to axle hop) It is near desert country here with a maximum of 15" of rain annually plus the road is 20 feet wide in places so crowning would be difficult and not all that necessary. What do you all recommend as the best technique to renew the surface given the attachments and my old Ford 1715

 

[stevem5215]

I'd leave it be. He will never be happy with the results so don't bother fixing it. Fix the parts that are related to your section and let him worry about his section. See first sentence for his section work.

 

[deezler]

What do you all recommend as the best technique to renew the surface given the attachments and my old Ford 1715

Get more many tons of more rock delivered and spread? Lol sorry.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

Get more many tons of more rock delivered and spread? Lol sorry.

Usually the road base has to be excavated and rebuilt. Have only ever dealt with 2 types of washboard: frost induced (which is why it needs to be dug out and rebuilt with proper packing) or lead foot induced.

Rather inclined to guess that the problem is lead foot induced by the neighbor who does not want it to be fixed.

Dumping rock on top is a very short lived fix for both of the above. Does help in winter though once ice starts holding things together!

 

[deezler]

Meh, when my driveway washboards due to dry conditions and excessive speed from my wife, friends and delivery drivers, I can fix it just by grading it a single pass in each direction (I don't have much fines in my mix, prefer a clean stone appearance with good drainage).

But I was actually more responding to his statement that "Some of it has no top coat, just poor quality crusher run gravel that seems to get worse rather than better when working it".

 

[CADplans]

I incorporated a different aspect of the "SUPERELEVATED CURVE" on my driveway back in the early 1980's,,
and it has worked all of these years,,

Rather than elevate one side, about every 200 feet, I alternate the side that is elevated,,
I initially did this to insure the water could not wash straight down the driveway unabated.
That did stop water washing,, but, it also slowed everyone WAY down,,
You gotta REALLY concentrate if you are gonna drive fast on a road that switches pitch from side to side,,

I do not think in all of these years, I have ever had one washboard develop.

 

[bcp]

So I live on a steep hill in the Pacific northwest. The recent rain has washed ruts in the road and the gravel down the hill.

Did this miss you, or are you washed out again?

Severe thunderstorm, weak tornado pass through Battle Ground area

A strong thunderstorm that swept through north Clark County on Monday night prompted reports of a funnel cloud or a tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

www.columbian.com

Bruce

 

[deezler]

Rather than elevate one side, about every 200 feet, I alternate the side that is elevated,,
it also slowed everyone WAY down,,
You gotta REALLY concentrate if you are gonna drive fast on a road that switches pitch from side to side,,

I do not think in all of these years, I have ever had one washboard develop.

That's hilarious. And brilliant, as long as you don't mind driving while tipped to the side all the time.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Get more many tons of more rock delivered and spread? Lol sorry.

Unfortunately that is what is needed on top of the crusher run which is what I have on my 1/2 mile driveway off the main driveway. Sort of thinking that it would be cost prohibitive. 4000' x 12' x 2" x cost per yard = a lot of money. I plan on just covering the driveway inside the gate.

Rather inclined to guess that the problem is lead foot induced by the neighbor who does not want it to be fixed.

Actually it was lead foot induced by a previous owner who had a fencing business whose employees tended to always be in a hurry either coming or going. The new neighbor is worried about his semi (Kenworth with a livestock trailer), not making it up a rather steep short hill (25' rise in 200') if there is a lot of loose material. I am more inclined to believe that the current washboarding on the hill is more of a problem but being a retired dump truck driver I understand about axle hop on loose material.

The part I worked on I used the drag harrow on the worst side to loosen the top a little and a box blade set so the cutting and smoothing edges were about level. The other side I just box bladed. It's much smoother on the side I harrowed, but it seems more dusty.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

Unfortunately that is what is needed on top of the crusher run which is what I have on my 1/2 mile driveway off the main driveway. Sort of thinking that it would be cost prohibitive. 4000' x 12' x 2" x cost per yard = a lot of money. I plan on just covering the driveway inside the gate.


Actually it was lead foot induced by a previous owner who had a fencing business whose employees tended to always be in a hurry either coming or going. The new neighbor is worried about his semi (Kenworth with a livestock trailer), not making it up a rather steep short hill (25' rise in 200') if there is a lot of loose material. I am more inclined to believe that the current washboarding on the hill is more of a problem but being a retired dump truck driver I understand about axle hop on loose material.

The part I worked on I used the drag harrow on the worst side to loosen the top a little and a box blade set so the cutting and smoothing edges were about level. The other side I just box bladed. It's much smoother on the side I harrowed, but it seems more dusty.

If its a tractor and trailer he has nothing to worry about.

I guess you can always wait for it to snow and put the rippers shallow in the box blade to slowly knock em down and push the gravel back into the grooves. At least your neighbor will be good to help pack if you can get the tops knocked over.

 

[PILOON]

Other than proper ditches etc., I have found that recycled asphalt is an excellent solution.
While I did this 30 years back I recently needed to re do a section that had suffered somewhat.
Today's 'recycled' is much better in that it is shredded very much like 0-3/4 gravel. Lay it out early spring and the sun will fuse it back to a solid surface that rushing water can't/wont wash out.

That recycled material is getting so popular that even the cities are using it now. On the + side it is more affordable than crushed stone (while transport is the same).

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

have found that recycled asphalt is an excellent solution.

Recycled asphalt product yes, but not raw asphalt grindings. In the off season he asphalt plants around here take the raw grindings and run them through a crusher and make the 3/4 minus RAP which they mix back into the hot mix. The RAP is a little more expensive but worth the difference in price. Lay that stuff down on a warm day and rent a rolling compactor and it's almost as durable as hot mix asphalt. The problem here is the nearest asphalt plant is 40 miles and trucking costs add up quickly.