Building a road... whoulda thunk it'd be this hard?

[jdmar]

Another idea that I did at my current house. It did cost some but has done well for 3 years now. You could do on a smaller scale (mine has held with cement trucks and 20 ton gravel loads). My drive crosses about 300 feet of true muck soil (think peat bog). It is the black stuff you but for $3 a bag for "potting soil." We dug the soft areas out about 4-5 feet deep, then layed geogrid/textile. Then large pieces of broken concrete. I got the concrete for free for a local plant that had a dump pile. It was all 2-6 foot pads of rebar free stuff. I got it at a plant next to LaFarge in Alliance ohio. (not sure if near you). I did have to pay the trucking though.

We layed the large concrete, then smaller broken concrete chunks. Then another layer of geogrid followed by #1 and 2s then 411 I believe (2" down to fines). When I drive over it with the dozer you see the ground bounce and vibrate 10-15 feet to the side of the drive and the drive itself. But it does seem to hold so far.

Maybe skip the first geogrid and just lay some big broken concrete--sort of disperses any load on top of it. Then go with coarse stone and maybe finer if it stays put. You may be able to find a concrete pouring/finishing company willing to deliver their tear out material to you for free...keep calling and I bet they will bite! I bet if you have time you can get a lot for free. Just trying to help. Have you called your township/county? I know around here you can register with them for dumping material from jobs. Good luck and thanks for the pics...looks likel a beautiful place...and nice for bow hunting too!
Peter

 

[mike69440]

Oh my God,

This whole thread brings back nightmarish memories of spending ridiculous money on DES surveys, plans and fees, waiting for approvals , then watching 5,000 yards of blast rock and countless truckloads of gravel disappear in a swamp.

Two years an a few loads of ledge pack my 1,400 ft. driveway stands up better than the town's dirt road to my place.

Keep on plugging away at it and your road will get done.

Mike

 

[streamin]

You know Paul..I just can't help myself - I have to respond...People buy land not just to farm but to enjoy - ride horses, walk in the woods, hunt, ride ATV's with their kids - not everyone buys land just to farm and further I have to say that I would sell my farm before I ever let the government tell me where I could build a road on my own property...don't you think the government especially lately is sticking their nose a little too far up our skirts? Just saying.............

Amen to that, BRIN.

 

[dave1949]

If I could think outside the ditch here, and maybe I missed it somewhere in the thread - but did you consider a pond?

If allowed, and looking at the vegetation in the pics I think it might be, you get the pond and all the dirt you need.

Before hand, you would need to find the depth of the clay to bedrock (ledge) to see if you have enough depth to work with.

Dave.

 

[mike69440]

If I could think outside the ditch here, and maybe I missed it somewhere in the thread - but did you consider a pond?

If allowed, and looking at the vegetation in the pics I think it might be, you get the pond and all the dirt you need.

Before hand, you would need to find the depth of the clay to bedrock (ledge) to see if you have enough depth to work with.

Dave.

Clay does not make for a good road bed. Hard as a rock when dry, but a greasy muddy mess when wet. Clay can be used as fill but would need about 18" of rock then 6" of gravel on top. You can get away with less topping with fabric.

I'm using the clay from my ponds to build a senic overlook toward the mountains on my property.

 

[mike69440]

If I could think outside the ditch here, and maybe I missed it somewhere in the thread - but did you consider a pond?

If allowed, and looking at the vegetation in the pics I think it might be, you get the pond and all the dirt you need.

Before hand, you would need to find the depth of the clay to bedrock (ledge) to see if you have enough depth to work with.

Dave.

Clay does not make for a good road bed. Hard as a rock when dry, but a greasy muddy mess when wet. Clay can be used as fill but would need about 18" of rock then 6" of gravel on top. You can get away with less topping with fabric.

I'm using the clay from my ponds as backfill to build a senic overlook toward the mountains on my property.

 

[dave1949]

Clay doesn't make a good foundation for about anything - it is a great natural pond liner however

If you go with even a modest size pond and some french drains leading to it from wet areas, you could dry your lot up considerably I'm thinking.

 

[vpnwiz]

Wow, thanks everyone for the replies! I have a few days off the computer and come back to a ton of good info and suggestions.

The good news: It rained almost all last week, sometimes quite heavily, but so far the ditches at the front, sides and back are actually working! At the front part of the road the water is draining down the sides, through the culvert and into the pond. At the middle, where I placed the two culverts, water is flowing well to the spring cap and then into the pond. The other great news is all that muck that I pulled up from the spring and while digging for the two culverts has dried out - even with the rain - and it's actually walkable now. My oldest boy and I went back there at dusk. There's a ~10 acre field completely enclosed by trees at the back of my property and we saw 7 deer in different places around the low brush and treeline. I don't own a bow but I sure could use one here

The bad news: I haven't been all the way to the back in almost a month, and I have just found out that having this road will take maintenance to keep clear, or the woods will take it back over. There were limbs down and growing back over it in that short time. Probly a good chore for the kids.

I have decided on a plan - I will use the corduroy log road described by MarkV and chipsndust in posts 22 and 23 to cross the last muddy spot over the two culverts. I have tons of trees and they are all free. I scoured the net looking for info on something like that before I started but I guess I didn't look hard enough! And I have resigned myself to having to buy one more load of gravel to connect the front road to where the logs will go. Once that's done I think we will have a functional road! The logs may not last forever but at this point I would be happy with 10 years.

If I could I would have a "do-over" and get the big chunks of concrete, pull everything off and lay them down, then build the road up 6-12" on top of that, but because of the access issues and time I just can't do it. Hopefully the way I did it will last for a while.

Oh, one other thing, about the farm road at the back: It is actually 20' into our property and runs parallel with the back line. The only traffic it gets are horses from all the stables in the area. There may be an ATV from time to time but those get chased off pretty quick. So the kids will be safe. The farmer keeps all his toys in the field and not on the lane. He does come and brush hog it twice a year to keep it clear though, nice guy.

I'll post back when I start doing the corduroy road with some more pics! Thanks again all.

Patrick