need help with access road across steep slope

[flingwing1969]

Is geogrid rated for uv exposure

Should be pretty resistant to UV - looks like HDPE with carbon black - I've had HDPE 1 1/4" pipe on top of the ground for a couple of decades and it is still pliable and not at all brittle.

 

[Sodo]

Everything gets covered with ivy, so I'm assuming it will be sheltered from UV.

I cut it with a battery-powered skilsaw.
Cutting it with shears it seems soft and pliable,
but with the saw it kinda 'shatters' and you can see the reinforcement fibers.

I'm four feet up now (sort of).
The first course I "wrapped." But this was difficult and could not get it 'tight' anyway.
I hope the ivy covers it ASAP. The next courses I just laid the geogrid on.

I might go one more course, then will start angling down on the upper roadway (the actual driveway).

 

[Sodo]

Pretty far along now. Here's a before/after.

I spread 5/8minus gravel on it.
Now just gotta make the parking pad at the end.
Now it's gonna be a lot easier to get concrete out to the end.:thumbsup:

I'm more than surprised it's been 5 weeks since I started (minus 18 days off to go camping in Utah....)

 

[MossRoad]

Looking good! :thumbsup:

 

[Sodo]

Thanks Moss!

Made this pic so in 20 years in case anyone asks "how come that little spur never slid down the hill?" (fingers crossed !)
Then (if I can find this pic) I can remember how it was built.:thumbsup:

Basically I cut a 6 foot shelf into the hill and built up with engineered roadway materials. It's an arranged slug of reinforced rubble that widens to about 9 feet up the slope. And 3-5 feet thick.

It's my own design, based on available materials. Not expensive, but it took some time.
I had to buy the geogrid but the rubble was "free." I put about 4 inches of dirt ontop of each course of rubble, then laid the geogrid on the dirt. Then next course of rubble directly on the geogrid- which is not the standard method. Normally geogrid is layered with soil ONLY and the ends are 'sealed' with a fabric so the dirt doesn't fall out, and other obvious reasons. No rubble of course. But this is NOT for 80,000lb truck-traffic, it's a dead-end driveway spur.

I plan to back-fill rubble against the (almost vertical) face of my buildup, then cover with dirt and let the ivy grow over it.

 

[MossRoad]

Where I grew up, my father built his own home. In our backyard, it overlooked a 90' escarpment down to an oxbow lake that used to be the river. In the 30's, the WPA cut the lake off from the main river channel and built a road across the open horseshoe end. We lived on the high bank of the old river. My father built steps down to the bottom of that escarpment, using pretty much the same techniques you used on your driveway spur, minus the geogrid... it just wasn't available or even known about back then. Anyhow, he would drive around town and pick up pieces of broken concrete sidewalk when they were being replaced. The rough broken edges look a lot like a natural stone material. He had to start from the top and work his way down, which isn't the best method for building stairs. So he did it in manageable, 20' sections or so. He'd cut the hill to the right, build a spur like you have, then work his way up. Then he'd make a switchback at the bottom of the spur, cut the hill to the left and repeat. There were 7-8 switchbacks and about 150 steps down to that lake.

The only problems were leaf litter and dirt that would come down the hill and cover the steps and landings each year. So it was a spring ritual for dad to hand me a pointed trowel and a bucket, and I'd have to scrape the dirt and dead leave, full of great worms for fishing, out of the corners and steps. It would take a day, but worth it. If you didn't keep up on it, the steps would be overrun with debris from above in just two years or so. We sold the house after he passed away around 1995. I go ice fishing at that lake every winter. There is almost no visible traces of those steps now. They are completely covered by forest floor debris.

So, from that experience, I'll ask you if you've made provisions to keep uphill debris from coming down onto your spur? Just watch it over time and keep a leaf blower handy and don't let anything build up on there and rot into soil or in a surprisingly short couple-three years, you'll lose a couple feet of area on the uphill side.

 

[deezler]

Nice job. But I am completely confused. You built a temporary "road" to access this area, just so that you build a much more difficult way to access said area down the steep slope? Why not access it from the easier way you originally had excavated?

 

[Sodo]

Nice job. But I am completely confused. You built a temporary "road" to access this area, just so that you build a much more difficult way to access said area down the steep slope? Why not access it from the easier way you originally had excavated?

I can see that..... My wife (and everyone else) was asking the same thing but they couldn't read my mind.

I plan to park a dump trailer and a car trailer there on the level (next to where the Jeep pickup is parked). I'd have to move trailers every time I want something in/out of my 'new parking spot'.

The new spur intersects the driveway directly and will remain clear and accessible at all times.

 

[GLyford]

Oh, I get it, this kind of gives you easier access to BOTH spots, rather than just as one long spot...

 

[dragoneggs]

Nicely done, Sodo. Nice to repurpose free rubble. I am guessing that in time that will be quite natural looking and attractive! :thumbsup: