Jim Timber
Veteran Member
I'm in the process of getting final approval for a road through a wooded swamp (should have my last signature Friday). The base is about 4' of muck over 3" clay with sand under the clay. Rather than guaranteeing I need 4' of fill brought in, and risking peeling out the clay and draining the swamp, I've decided to float it with a base of riprap over the root mat, and will be putting corduroy over the riprap and then gravel over the corduroy, with a final drive surface over the gravel after a period of time to ensure there are no drainage issues or uneven settling that need to be corrected. I have pretty much free reign on the design, as it's a private road.
There's a spring seep that feeds the swamp somewhere on the property (the swamp is roughly 6 acres with me and a neighbor owning equal halves), but it doesn't flow much (maybe 2" of the bottom of a 18" culvert when there's consistent rain) - of course my road bisects it's path, so I need some culverts to manage the water.
I'm going to go with the biggest double walled poly pipe I can get locally, and multiply them as needed to get the volume I think is sufficient. The 18" culvert that drains this area into the lake isn't big enough and has over run the town's road several times in recent years with heavy rains. I'd like 24" as a minimum, 36" would be even better but I don't know that I can find it without trucking it in (which I haven't ruled out either).
With the muck and clay, how would you guys suggest building up and firming the base to place the pipes? I've got a Caterpillar outfit 6 miles from me, so I plan on renting a mini excavator to dig and tamp the holes. I can bring gravel in, or sand. I just don't have the experience with this stuff to know what the better option is.
There's a spring seep that feeds the swamp somewhere on the property (the swamp is roughly 6 acres with me and a neighbor owning equal halves), but it doesn't flow much (maybe 2" of the bottom of a 18" culvert when there's consistent rain) - of course my road bisects it's path, so I need some culverts to manage the water.
I'm going to go with the biggest double walled poly pipe I can get locally, and multiply them as needed to get the volume I think is sufficient. The 18" culvert that drains this area into the lake isn't big enough and has over run the town's road several times in recent years with heavy rains. I'd like 24" as a minimum, 36" would be even better but I don't know that I can find it without trucking it in (which I haven't ruled out either).
With the muck and clay, how would you guys suggest building up and firming the base to place the pipes? I've got a Caterpillar outfit 6 miles from me, so I plan on renting a mini excavator to dig and tamp the holes. I can bring gravel in, or sand. I just don't have the experience with this stuff to know what the better option is.