Gravel road maintenance

[rickdavis81]

After advice on here I purchased an EA land plane to maintain my mile of gravel road. Does an amazing job. Talked to the road grader and he cut some of the ditches awhile back to help where they had filled back in. Should I blade the dirt/rock mound on to the road and smooth it out with several passes. Or should I load it in the dump truck and haul it off to keep all the dirt off the road? Figured If I blade it back on I’ll use my hydraulic grader blade since it’d clog up the lane plane in now time.

 

[Hay Dude]

If it’s dirt, I’d get rid of it as itll become mud and make a mess. Fill low spots with gravel and compact them.

 

[s219]

Got any pictures? But I agree, if it's not gravel or gravel fines, it's not good for the road.

 

[repete]

Any gravel road needs a crown or slope to get water off the surface. This is especially important with wet areas. Can your land plane maintain a crown?

 

[oosik]

If your road is gravel - then I would remove the dirt and not incorporate it into the gravel.

 

[Hay Dude]

If your road is gravel - then I would remove the dirt and not incorporate it into the gravel.

This ^^^
I just got doing a cheapie rebuild on a gravel road that had been let go for too many years. The road ran through a woods and got tons of leaf litter dropped on it. As we all know, leaf litter turns to mud and said mud was compacted into the top 4” of the road.
Not wanting to spend the money for a full rebuild, I was convinced to simply add new gravel to the top and compact it. I could tell it would help for a little while, but the long term solution was a complete rebuild.

 

[ponytug]

@rickdavis81 I think the devil is in the details. How much dirt to "rock" is in what you have? What does "rock" mean, 6" stones, or gravel? How coarse is the existing gravel on your road, i.e. do you need some fines to better lock things in place?

If you do decide to add it to the road, if it more than just half an inch or so spread out, I would mix it in to as deep a layer as you can to make for a uniform road road bed.

All the best,

Peter

 

[rickdavis81]

No pics. At work at the moment. I’d say 98% dirt and the gravel is small road rock. Usually the grader operaters just smooth it back onto the road and we get flats for the next month or so around here. I set my side linkage so it cuts more on the outside and then after a couple passes I wind up with a full box and it pushes it to the center of the road with the angled blades. Roads pretty sad but county claims no money for rock so I just try and keep the holes filled in and maintained best I can. Neighbors appreciate it

 

[rickdavis81]

Neighbors and I all have nice new houses and pay dearly in property taxes. It’s irritating

 

[ponytug]

No pics. At work at the moment. I’d say 98% dirt and the gravel is small road rock. Usually the grader operaters just smooth it back onto the road and we get flats for the next month or so around here. I set my side linkage so it cuts more on the outside and then after a couple passes I wind up with a full box and it pushes it to the center of the road with the angled blades. Roads pretty sad but county claims no money for rock so I just try and keep the holes filled in and maintained best I can. Neighbors appreciate it

I'm not sure that it is worth spreading, but when you have lemons, you make lemonade...

Neighbors and I all have nice new houses and pay dearly in property taxes. It’s irritating

Run for county supervisor? Get permission to spread your own road base?
Lemonade...