Culvert Question

[justinramani]

RDrancher,

What is the proper machine to do this?

 

[RDrancher]

A tractor and box blade is what I would use. First, buildup the roadway material flat across the entire roadway side to side and out about 20' heading each way down the road. Then you can start a taper to the sides which will start creating the crown. This will keep the water flowing away from the culvert ends on the roadway. The drainage along the sides of the roadway should be what directs the flow back toward the pipe.

 

[paulharvey]

I would rake in the small wash outa, probably by hand, use box blade/back drag/blade/ect to smooth/fill major ones. Then the major thing is you have to stabilize the slopes. Use cheap sod (bahia or whatever cheap grass in your area) or seednmulch(hay with a very fast starting junk grass like winter rye or this time of year, Pearl Millet). Bare dirt will always wash, got to cover it up with grass.

 

[justinramani]

paulharvey,

That is a good idea.

I will be in and out of town for the next few months. I went ahead and filled in the washout areas. I also cut logs and placed them diagonally across the road about 20' from the culvert. My idea is that the logs will slow the water and divert some of it off to the side before it gets to the culvert.

I just need this to work for a few months until I can get a dozer out to cut trenches and crown the road properly.

You think the logs will work as a temp solution?

 

[ovrszd]

Several years ago an old "blade" operator said to me, "A road without ditches is a ditch". That's what you have going on here. On a properly graded roadbed surface water will never get to the culvert.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Several years ago an old "blade" operator said to me, "A road without ditches is a ditch". That's what you have going on here. On a properly graded roadbed surface water will never get to the culvert.

I agree with what you are trying to say but not quite with how your trying to say it. Surface water should drain off to the side of the road as quickly as possible and into the side ditches ( If the road is in a cut) and then down those ditches to the first available outlet. The water in the inlet side ditches will run down to the creek and then go through the culvert. The water on the outlet side will enter the creek at some point below the culvert. The creek and it's culvert being the low point in the local drainage basin just has to serve all the ground above and upstream of it.

 

[ovrszd]

I agree with what you are trying to say but not quite with how your trying to say it. Surface water should drain off to the side of the road as quickly as possible and into the side ditches ( If the road is in a cut) and then down those ditches to the first available outlet. The water in the inlet side ditches will run down to the creek and then go through the culvert. The water on the outlet side will enter the creek at some point below the culvert. The creek and it's culvert being the low point in the local drainage basin just has to serve all the ground above and upstream of it.

I might have missed something in the pics. What I saw was surface water on the roadway running to the culvert and then discharging off the roadway at the culvert?? That was my point about ditches. That water needs to be discharged off the roadway before it reaches the culvert. That's why good roadbeds are constantly maintained to remove the troughs created by driving imprints.

 

[s219]

I might have missed something in the pics. What I saw was surface water on the roadway running to the culvert and then discharging off the roadway at the culvert?? That was my point about ditches. That water needs to be discharged off the roadway before it reaches the culvert. That's why good roadbeds are constantly maintained to remove the troughs created by driving imprints.

Agree 100%.

The rip-rap looks small to me (here rip-rap is softball to basketball sized, all mixed), but clearly the runoff was coming from the roadway. That needs to be diverted. The rip-rap will only be guarding against erosion from the culvert flows.

 

[paulharvey]

Agree 100%.

The rip-rap looks small to me (here rip-rap is softball to basketball sized, all mixed), but clearly the runoff was coming from the roadway. That needs to be diverted. The rip-rap will only be guarding against erosion from the culvert flows.

Water will sheet flow of the road, but it won't be an issue if you get some kind of vegatation on it. In this, cheap crappie grass is best, the pretty lawn grasses (bermuda, ect) don't do as well; but bahia and or centipede do great. In the shirt term though, pearl millet will sprout within 7 days, as long as you put a light hay layer on top to retain some level of moisture. You don't have to like the millet, but normal grass can take up to 45 days to sprout, and the millet holds the soil in the mean time. The millet will die in winter, leaving your main grass alive.

Edit: guess what I'm saying is get 2-3 ft of seed n mulch down on the shoulder to slow water and hold soil, up hill of your rip rap.

 

[ovrszd]

Water will sheet flow of the road, but it won't be an issue if you get some kind of vegatation on it. In this, cheap crappie grass is best, the pretty lawn grasses (bermuda, ect) don't do as well; but bahia and or centipede do great. In the shirt term though, pearl millet will sprout within 7 days, as long as you put a light hay layer on top to retain some level of moisture. You don't have to like the millet, but normal grass can take up to 45 days to sprout, and the millet holds the soil in the mean time. The millet will die in winter, leaving your main grass alive.

Edit: guess what I'm saying is get 2-3 ft of seed n mulch down on the shoulder to slow water and hold soil, up hill of your rip rap.

Yep. Here we use Fescue. It roots good and stools well. Very good for erosion. Species will vary with location.