Access with lots of roots and mud

[deezler]

Wait wait wait. You have 14 acres. Can't you detour your driveway around this low and wet spot? If you don't go big and add many tons of fill, possibly with geotextile fabric, and heavily adjusted drainage, this area may always be a problem for you. You might even save money installing your road by detouring it 100+ feet.

The best bet is to put your driveway in along the highest, driest route you can.

 

[747driver]

As already stated....you have to remove the muddy soil and get down to firm soil. Then make ditches or some other way to get that water to run off the road into the ditches so the water can be carried away from the road. Put down a geo fabric and then cover with larger stone and in layers add smaller stone to desired height. If you can only put a ditch on one side then lay in a culvert so the water can get to the other side where the ditch is. You came to the right place with your questions as there are many here who have done this type of project...Good Luck ! Where do you live ?

 

[3rett]

Thanks everyone! Some really great info here..

Couple additional points here..

1) Our road frontage is the smallest part of the parcel, maybe 150 ft. And this low spot runs straight across that whole area. Add to that there is a creek with a culvert already installed on this path, so unfortunately there's no place to move the driveway believe it or not :/

2) The tall picture points inward to the center of the property. The muddy trail part runs somewhat down hill toward the green area in the picture. You can't see it but this is where a creek with a 30" culvert runs perpendicular under the driveway until it goes uphill again on the other side.

So my thought was to kill the stumps and fill over them high enough so the water would run down the sides towards the creek to drain. But like some of you said, it is really soft mud and I think I might just need to rent a dozer and push all of this junk out. Lay some geo-fabric and some fill.

Finally, I am in the thumb in Michigan. The soil samples we took 48" down were all clay.

Again, I'm really appreciative to the responses here, thanks!

 

[nyone]

Why dont you just place a culvert in the driveway and then fill. Sometimes the best way to fight water is to let it run through.

Clay can be a benifit if you use it properly. Low areas will always collect water and be a mud pit in clay.

 

[Egon]

If you got clay soil use it to build up the road. Drop it in full depth right over the stumps and keep it level as you go. For the first several years you may have to top it up a couple of times with more clay. Then it’s yours to finish.

If you can drain the ditches to a lower spot so water in the wet spot will drain out and dry up the hole.

 

[GLyford]

I also vote for dropping in a culvert pipe before you start filling. I am thinking 24 to 30' of 12" plastic. If water is moving across there damming it up won't help you at all.