Making a ditch crossing

[Baby Grand]

Any thoughts on putting a "cow catcher" in front of the inlet?



I was thinking of putting a welded rebar grill - sort of like a fireplace screen, but coarser & heavier - in front of the inlet to prevent any logs, limbs, etc from getting lodged in the culvert, while allowing water to pass through. May be a use for that pile of old bed frame rails The Plant Manager keeps asking me to toss.

 

[crackerjack222]

ovrscd, I hope you have better luck with the culvert crossing than I have had. I think every one I have put in on my ranch has washed out sooner or later. The creek crossing I use most often has a rock fill bottom that rarely needs attention. Sometime it has 6" of water over it but with the solid bottom I dont hesitate to drive thru it.

 

[ovrszd]

Any thoughts on putting a "cow catcher" in front of the inlet?

View attachment 399706

I was thinking of putting a welded rebar grill - sort of like a fireplace screen, but coarser & heavier - in front of the inlet to prevent any logs, limbs, etc from getting lodged in the culvert, while allowing water to pass through. May be a use for that pile of old bed frame rails The Plant Manager keeps asking me to toss.

My experiences have been the "cow catcher" becomes the "trash catcher" and complicates the problem. Kinda like how a watergap fence catches everything that comes by. But in certain circumstances it might work.

 

[ovrszd]

ovrscd, I hope you have better luck with the culvert crossing than I have had. I think every one I have put in on my ranch has washed out sooner or later. The creek crossing I use most often has a rock fill bottom that rarely needs attention. Sometime it has 6" of water over it but with the solid bottom I dont hesitate to drive thru it.

Yeah, I hope so too. My goal here was that the fence would be easier to maintain. Course that is soley dependent on the success of the culvert....

I've got a wide bottom ditch that I'm going to cover with busted concrete. I've got a big pile of that. It's impractical to install a culvert there and fill with dirt since it's 60-80ft across the bottom.

I run a road grader for my township. I maintain 50 miles of hilly NW Missouri roads. Not sure how many culverts are involved but I'm guessing 125. You never know when installing a culvert. Some that I think will never last actually never need maintenance. Then I'll install one that I don't worry about and it washes out the next big rain..... Kinda like creating a drainage ditch along the roadbed. As Elmer Fudd would say, "Be vewy, vewy caweful what you do".

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evening Richard,
Nice project !

That Kubota was certainly up to the task !
Thanks for sharing all those pics, what a beautiful piece of property !

 

[Rustyiron]

Hey, did I miss your canopy build thread? That pull behind scraper looks like it would make a good post as well. If ya got time!

 

[ovrszd]

Good Evening Richard,
Nice project !

That Kubota was certainly up to the task !
Thanks for sharing all those pics, what a beautiful piece of property !

Scott,

Good to hear from you. I still have that ole Super C sitting in the shed waiting on a plan to get it to you!!

 

[ovrszd]

Hey, did I miss your canopy build thread? That pull behind scraper looks like it would make a good post as well. If ya got time!

I haven't posted the canopy thread yet. Now that Winter has a grip on me, I'll get around to that soon. Good to hear from you and hope all is well with you!!!

 

[TomSeller]

Yeah, I may be all wrong on this crossing. Time will tell. Basing my decision on the history of the drainage ditch I don't see it overflowing. But hey, I'll post pictures of the aftermath if it washes out!!!

You know your land and that ditch's seasonal flow so you will most likely be fine. It is quite broad which will help against seepage along the length.

 

[scott_vt]

Scott,

Good to hear from you. I still have that ole Super C sitting in the shed waiting on a plan to get it to you!!

Good Morning Richard,
That would be a fine project indeed !

Enjoy your holidays !

 

[ZAR2USA]

Ditch crossing for high water and low flow rest of the year. Works excellent! Self build.

 

[Gary Fowler]

View attachment 400515

Ditch crossing for high water and low flow rest of the year. Works excellent! Self build.

That is a great looking crossing. Looks like you need one more concrete block on the right side of the photo to finish off the anti-wash out retainer wall though.

 

[ZAR2USA]

Pic was taken right after concrete was poured last week. There is still some finishing touches that needs to be made ;-)

 

[ZAR2USA]

Made many of these types of crossings in the past. They work excellent.

 

[ovrszd]

Good Morning Richard,
That would be a fine project indeed !

Enjoy your holidays !

Had a big feed in the shop yesterday. Around 50 family members involved. Was a good time.

Happy Holidays to you too Scotty!!!

 

[ovrszd]

View attachment 400515

Ditch crossing for high water and low flow rest of the year. Works excellent! Self build.

Great idea on flat ground. Not so good in the bottom of a steep ravine.

 

[SPIKER]

mine is similar but no where near the pucker factor, I took 24' x 24" split it in half and made mine.


I only need about 2 feet of fill on top but already have about 3 of gravel just to try and set up so floods go out around the low side. I have some finish work yet to do, time and winter issues mostly.
newest pics. below the culverts are 25" by the tape for ref on sizes of rocks on inlet side.







down stream side there is the bits of the old bridge still visible, I just put culverts under it and used it as a way back & forth till I had the fill up to top of old bridge level. the planks are the old deck I kept there till fill was up to level. I ended up leaving them for now on top just because I have not made u my mind whet to do with them.


It was a toss up about using rocks as base but this place is subject more to a flash flood issues so gravel seems to move around a LOT. taken 100's of yards out of the YARD where it was deposited after flash floods. as you can see it is a shallow enough to have done the ford but would have had to use crete to tie the rock together.



This is the real issue with the culverts, mine was in for a week under the bridge chained to the bridge (which has been washed down stream once in last 15 years & had to be drug back up.)


which put 25 yards of gravel into the park/yard area below the bridge and up stream of it. the stream is dry 25% of the time.

Click any of the pictures to go to the photo bucket folder and see all the picks adding more today.,



Mark

 

[ovrszd]

I really enjoy seeing other's ideas. But again,, works great on level terrain,, not so well in a deep ravine. Thanks for posting.

 

[TomSeller]

I really enjoy seeing other's ideas. But again,, works great on level terrain,, not so well in a deep ravine. Thanks for posting.

Totally agree with you. Apples and oranges. I think you did a great job.

 

[ovrszd]

Totally agree with you. Apples and oranges. I think you did a great job.

Worked with the fruit I was given Tom.