My Bridge/ Culvert Project. (Pics)

[cartod]

I needed an access road to my 5 acre plot. I had to go over a small creek. Used 42" 16 ga. Galvanized steel pipe. Feel free to give me pointers on maintaining the road and the bridge. This was my first attempt at this project and I'm hoping the pipe is big enough so the bridge won't wash out.

 

[TripleR]

Very nice job, we have to put down a good base of 2" crushed rock to prevent ours from washing out, depending on the slope, you may need more or less. You may also want to put something around the ends of your culverts; others on here have more experience than I and can give you more specifics.

 

[Ed of all trades]

great job, might want to crown it thow so the water will run off to the sides of the road

 

[cartod]

Can you explain what crowning is?

 

[amigauser]

Can you explain what crowning is?

Shaping Roads and Trails

 

[Gordon Gould]

Very nice job. One thought though. If you are going to run anything heavy over your culvert very often I would consider more material on top. A rule of thumb for heavy usage is to cover it with material to a dept of 1/2 the culvert diameter. It is probably fine the way it is for your tractor. I have seen some with no dirt on top, but they usually get crushed pretty quick.
If you have a county extension service or forestry office you can probably pick up a free booklet on Best Management Practices (BMP) for loggers. It will have a lot of info on methods for building and maintaining woods roads to minimize water damage and erosion.

 

[Rustyiron]

Yeah, you need to deal with the water that will come down your new road. If you put some good ditches on each side of the new road and "crown" the road, that is make the (rain) water that falls on your road make it's way to yur new (side) ditches by "crowning" or grading the road so that the center is 4" or so higher than the sides. On that slope, the more (crown) the better, in your pic looking down hill, it looks pretty steep. Mother nature will tell what you need to do, but until you get it handled, you will be dragging your road back up hill with your box blade after each heavy rain. You may end up needing to grade in some "water bars" for some severe rains. As for your nice new pipe, it looks nice! I've used bags of ready mix concrete stacked around the inlet side of the pipe for a head wall. Stack them up to form a nice inlet shape and so that the moving water will not erode around your pipe, make sure that you get some under it where the water enters, then drive some 1/2" rebar down through them in several areas (the more the better) to "tie" the whole thing together. The concrete bags will harden on there own and the bags will dissolve in a few months and it will protect your pipe in the event of a "gully washer" that will eventually come. Nice job.:thumbsup:

 

[kebo]

Like rustyiron said, if you crown it you will need some very good ditches on the sides of the road to protect it. That's a pretty steep hill and the water will pick up lots of speed going down it which could cause major erosion every time it rains. You might think about ways to divert the water away from the road maybe every 8 ft or so to keep the water from building up into a small river at the bottom of the hill during a deluge.

The only other thing I would suggest is use riprap to cover the sides of the "dam" you made. Heavy rains could pool up on the upstream side making eddies that will scowl away the sides of the dam as it tries to get through the 42" pipe.

Good job though!!!

 

[cartod]

You guys are great! Thanks. I will ad some pics of the crown, and the rip rap.

 

[1bush2hog]

Nice Job! Here's another link you may want to check out. A Landowner's Guide to Building Forest Access Roads - Road Construction


BTW - Nice Razr too!

 

[cartod]

Here is an update. I have put about 16" above the culvert as suggested. Rip rap is on the way. I will crown the road and ditch the edges last, before I gravel it. This will be an access road for trucks and deliveries while we build our dream home on the lot. I will take pics of the build as we progress.

What gravel do you recommend for the road?

 

[cartod]

I'm gonna take that dump truck across it tomorrow, do you think I have enough dirt over top of the pipe?

 

[dodge man]

Its tough to tell by the pictures, but a little more wouldn't hurt. I'm not sure how strong that pipe will be with a big heavy truck going over it. Like other have said, water can run down the middle of the road and wash ruts in it. Looking at the photos, it doesn't look like that will be a huge problem. For a home built road done with a small tractor, it looks pretty darn good to me.

 

[catdozer]

To me that also looks good! We build roads on occasion (1-5 mile) and some codes call for processed road gravel. And other few have we have used crushed asphalt. DO NOT USE CRUSHED CONCRETE!!!! It get so dusty it's horrible and never binds well. Crushed Asphalt is probably the best way to go, it holds up to our tandem and quad axle dump trucks well even 40ton lowboys.

 

[yelbike]

Look into geotek fabric. I think its well worth the money. It also saves on gravel for years to come.

 

[yelbike]

Look into geotek fabric. Its not cheap but will save you money in reduced amounts of gravel now and in the years to come.

 

[cartod]

Rip rap is complete. I have about 10 tons left over. Slight miscalculation.

 

[foreman Etexas]

My suggestion is go wider at top of hill,take those hills out further so you can kick the water off the road and have room to work with tractor at later date if your ditches need fixed.

 

[TripleR]

I would put the rip rap a little thicker along the sides. My son helped a friend of his on a job and they laid a lot of it by hand to get good coverage and packed it in.

If you have hills, you will find you really can't have too much rip rap or other rock, I keep some stored and wish I had more. I have 1", 2" and 6" minus in three separate piles.

You sure have moved a lot of stuff with a relatively small tractor, you are to be commended.:thumbsup:

 

[kebo]

I'm gonna take that dump truck across it tomorrow, do you think I have enough dirt over top of the pipe?

Just hit the gas and don't slow down until you're at the top of the hill lol!!!! That way, the culvert won't have time to cave in, and you are assured of making it to the top without spinning the tires!!!:laughing: Really, you won't know until you try it and see.