Creek Culvert Project

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I recently worked on a creek culvert project. I have a creek running through my place that is dry most of the time. I cross it with my tractor and truck without any problems. However, I want to get a lime buggy on the far hillside and was afraid of potential problems going through creek and up the steep hill on the other side. Here is a pic of the creek bottom prior to the work starting. It is approximately 12 ft. across.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Here are the culverts laying in the creek prior to dirt work. There are three 24" culverts.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Here are a couple of pics of the rocks from the creek bottom being put over the culverts.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Here is the finished product.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

After I finished, I had second thoughts as to whether this will hold or not. The creek runs pretty fast after a heavy rain. Oh well, nothing to do now but wait and see. I'll post after the next heavy rain and report the good or bad news.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Jerry,
Nice job ! Gotta ask what kind of weight those pipes will support when backfilled with what you have there ? Just curious, I have a corrugated pipe at the bottom of my drive thats going to need replacing. Mine is galvanized so Im curious what your pipes will handle ? Thanks !

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Mornin Jerry,
Nice job ! Gotta ask what kind of weight those pipes will support when backfilled with what you have there ? Just curious, I have a corrugated pipe at the bottom of my drive thats going to need replacing. Mine is galvanized so Im curious what your pipes will handle ? Thanks !

I am only assuming that it will hold the weight of heavy "stuff". I have a fairly heavy tractor, about 6,000 lbs. I drove across the new bridge a couple of times and it seemed to be holding that weight OK. I will post again with reports of any failures. Or better yet, I will post if all seems to go well.

 

[EddieWalker]

The pipe doesn't actually suport the weight. It's the fill around it. When driving over the pipe, you need to have so much dirt above the pipe to distribute the load to the sides of the pipe. It doesn't really matter whether you use metal or plastic, both will support 100,000 loads easily if properly installed and compacted all the way around.

In the pictures, I can see that the thee pipes are all placed next to each other. This is a mistake. There is no way to get compaction, or even material under the pipes. The middle one will fail first. Water will undercut the pipe and erode your materail rather quickly. There is probably a distance requirement between pipes, but I don't know it for sure. At least a foot for sure, but it could be larger for bigger pipes.

Sorry,
Eddie

 

[KentT]

I'm certainly a novice, but I'd have two concerns -- in addition to your concern about the three 24" culverts handling the creek's flow...

1. The amount of fill on top appears thin -- I've always heard the rule of thumb that you want the fill on top to be at least as thick as the culvert is tall. Don't know if that is true, but that's what I've heard. Did you pack this fill as you were putting it in?

2. Most importantly, since the culverts aren't set in clay and it packed around them, I'd be concerned about the water traveling down beside/between the culverts and undermining the whole thing. You could perhaps solve this if you'd encase the upstream side of the culverts in concrete...

Again -- I'm a novice but that'd be my concerns... I'm afraid it won't last, as is.

Edit: Well it looks like Eddie beat me to the punch.

 

[toolaholic]

YOU'RE MISSING SOMETHING IMPORTANT !!!!!!

You you need Stone head walls on both sides. This will keep everything honest