Washout-proofing a ditch

[Bullwinkle123]

See attached photo, which unfortunately doesn't show the 10-12 vertical inch drop from driveway surface to water very well.

I have this drainage ditch along my gravel driveway feeding multiple culverts all in the hope it will keep my driveway from washing away.

Mostly it works. Most of the length of the driveway the bedrock is right at the base of the ditch. It probably is here too, the pebbles you see are the gravel it's constantly washing out of my driveway. So it's not something I can deepen with a tractor. I might be able to push it back a, but that probably wouldn't work unless I move the ditch back the whole length of the driveway, which isn't pragmatically feasible (trees, rocks, difficult spaces).

So need some way to line the driveway gravel so that the next rain won't just wash it out. I have no idea what to use. Cement / cinderblocks of some kind seems easiest, would that work? I'm looking for suggestions from people who have overcome this particular erosion problem.

I hate having to regularly throw more gravel (purchased by the truckload) at this problem.

 

[bcp]

County road dept. here lined a similar but larger ditch with softball-sized rocks, pressed into place with the back of an excavator bucket. Still good after several years.

Bruce

 

[Thomas]

As bcp said and if you can reroute the water.

 

[CalG]

Haven't we had the rain!

The ditch on the drive up to our place looks about the same, only worse.
There are ledge oucroppings that keeps the run off from exposing more "ditch" away from the roadway. And if the near side ditch is plated with stone, the waterway becomes so narrow as to spill over in a drencher.

Marlboro VT road dept lines a bunch of ditches with 3-4 inch stone only two years ago. It looked like a real winner! But now that stone is silted in, and the water goes across the roadway in a bunch of spots.

Still, our troubles are small.

 

[airbiscuit]

Would something like this help?

 

[Diggin It]

County road dept. here lined a similar but larger ditch with softball-sized rocks, pressed into place with the back of an excavator bucket. Still good after several years.

We call it RipRap ... softball to bowling ball size, crushed with jagged, irregular edges so it locks together. Takes a whole passel o'rushing water to move it.

Can be used to line a low spot or build up a bank along the road to keep gravel in.

 

[oosik]

Around here the county highway dept uses straw bales in many locations. Every 75 to 100 feet down the ditch. Usually two or three bales laid across the ditch. Dirt will collect upstream of the bales. Soon grass will grow. The bales have created an almost permanent structure.

 

[4570Man]

I hate riprap lined ditches. You can’t mow it. I’d rather have the erosion.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

As bcp said and if you can reroute the water.

The driveway er, transversely traverses, a hill, although the incline is not severe. The entire portion of the land on the ditch side of the driveway is basically a water shed for the upper portion of the hill, which is why there are multiple culverts under the driveway. The spring thaw alone (without rain) creates huge volumes of water in that ditch, and it can also push around some pretty big rocks. Perhaps rocks are a thing to try though, certainly here in new england I have piles and piles of rocks. But I was hoping for something more concrete, if you'll pardon the play on words.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Around here the county highway dept uses straw bales in many locations. Every 75 to 100 feet down the ditch. Usually two or three bales laid across the ditch. Dirt will collect upstream of the bales. Soon grass will grow. The bales have created an almost permanent structure.

Would that just cause a huge unfortunate mass of water at the end points of the bales?

 

[Bullwinkle123]

We call it RipRap ... softball to bowling ball size, crushed with jagged, irregular edges so it locks together. Takes a whole passel o'rushing water to move it.

Can be used to line a low spot or build up a bank along the road to keep gravel in.

If you've got a picture of what a "rip rap" lined ditch looks like that might help.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Marlboro VT road dept lines a bunch of ditches with 3-4 inch stone only two years ago. It looked like a real winner! But now that stone is silted in, and the water goes across the roadway in a bunch of spots.

You're a neighbor!

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Would something like this help?

No idea, that's why I'm asking I was thinking of cinderblocks, they even have those solid ones that weight a ton, I don't know how much they cost. I'm still wondering if they'd need to be cemented together too, and whether the water would just work its way behind the "wall" from the top end and utterly defeat the whole scheme.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

The photo in the original post is just recent erosion from the last couple of weeks of rain. I had to repair that entire section when it washed out nearly 50% of the width of the driveway last December. The water just takes all the small rock and when it's strong enough just pushes it downstream to the culvert and through the culvert (and probably leaving reduced capacity _in_ the culvert too, I haven't looked).

Redirecting the water (uphill of the ditch) just isn't an option.

 

[beowulf]

Are the culverts parallel to the driveway at places needed, or do they periodically take water out of the side ditch to move it elsewhere, i.e., under and across the road? If the latter, maybe some small boulders placed strategically would slow the water enough to mitigate the washouts, and/or help to divert more water into the culverts. If there are no culverts diverting water from the ditch to the other side of the road, maybe a few small ones would help. Difficult to say without knowing more about the situation. Good luck.

 

[dlctcg]

We used Rip-Rap in our culverts to help hold back the driveway process & the dirt banks.... It works with some exceptions... You will loss some gravel / process if it is loose & not compacted (especially on a hill)... The stones & fines that do do in the rip-rap will lock it together over time. You need to keep the edge driveway slope just slightly higher than the rip-rap. Rip-Rap does slow the water down some....

Here is a pic of the one of the delivered piles prior to use installing it... I believe we ordered 5 - 8 inch...




Here is a not so god pic of a small section of our driveway culvert... It will give you an idea (I'll see if I can find some better ones).... Oh, they collect leave well...

 

[CalG]

You're a neighbor!

Check Ames Hill Road. Stone lined. It should show the success or failure after the past couple of days. But note. Hinesberg road is closed due to a washed out stone culvert.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Are the culverts parallel to the driveway at places needed, or do they periodically take water out of the side ditch to move it elsewhere, i.e., under and across the road? If the latter, maybe some small boulders placed strategically would slow the water enough to mitigate the washouts, and/or help to divert more water into the culverts. If there are no culverts diverting water from the ditch to the other side of the road, maybe a few small ones would help. Difficult to say without knowing more about the situation. Good luck.

Culverts pull water from the ditch, under the driveway via pipes, and put it out to the down-hill side of the driveway. There are multiple periodic culverts. I just need the ditch to handle the volume (which is a separate topic to some extent), and the intensity of the flow. I'm focused on the intensity as the water just rips my driveway out. If it wasn't for the odd shape constraints imposed by the bedrock near the surface I might just put in an ordinary steel half-pipe or other measure.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

We used Rip-Rap in our culverts to help hold back the driveway process & the dirt banks.... It works with some exceptions... You will loss some gravel / process if it is loose & not compacted (especially on a hill)... The stones & fines that do do in the rip-rap will lock it together over time. You need to keep the edge driveway slope just slightly higher than the rip-rap. Rip-Rap does slow the water down some....

Here is a pic of the one of the delivered piles prior to use installing it... I believe we ordered 5 - 8 inch...

View attachment 706515


Here is a not so god pic of a small section of our driveway culvert... It will give you an idea (I'll see if I can find some better ones).... Oh, they collect leave well...

View attachment 706519

Ah, that's useful. Yeah, I have some of that stuff covering a slightly buried part of drainage elsewhere. May be too big for the ditch I'm trying to fix though. Still, will think about it.

 

[fried1765]

We used Rip-Rap in our culverts to help hold back the driveway process & the dirt banks.... It works with some exceptions... You will loss some gravel / process if it is loose & not compacted (especially on a hill)... The stones & fines that do do in the rip-rap will lock it together over time. You need to keep the edge driveway slope just slightly higher than the rip-rap. Rip-Rap does slow the water down some....

Here is a pic of the one of the delivered piles prior to use installing it... I believe we ordered 5 - 8 inch...

View attachment 706515


Here is a not so god pic of a small section of our driveway culvert... It will give you an idea (I'll see if I can find some better ones).... Oh, they collect leave well...

View attachment 706519

Your driveway looks quite decent to me!