Grading roads the easy way

Aussiebushman · Aug 23, 2017

Yesterday I drove along the (gravel) public road and found to my amazement that the local council were grading the road. They are good at taking money but not too keen to spend it so that road gets attentions only each 2- 3 years at best. The actual machinery operators are good guys and suggested I get onto the council while they were in the area to get approval for "private work" After agreeing with the council to pay $219 per hour, the guys came this morning while the grader and roller were literally just outside my gates.

The section of track they fixed is very steep and they did what my Ford 6000 would have taken a week to do and nowhere near as well. The section has now been graded with good shoulders and drains. Well worth the money.

The moral to this story is to keep a watchful eye for professionals in the area and get a top class job done without paying massive transport costs for a contractor

airbiscuit · Aug 23, 2017

Pics please.

CalG · Aug 23, 2017

The residents of the cul-du-sac I live in have asked for road maintenance from our town in the past. (even when I served on the board of selectmen ;-)

Since the road is quite steep, with rather severe drop offs on both sides, guard rails were a requirement for consideration. Then there was the issue of the culvert at the base of the hill. 65 feet, at a depth of about 9 feet, that needed to be "up graded" to at least four feet diameter, from the presently less than two.
The drainage has NEVER been an issue and poses no threat to property if a back up did occur.

Improvements estimated at over 50K USD . That's a lot of tractor time. ;-) Perhaps I should approach our road agent on a time and materials basis.! Good IDEA.

Wagtail · Aug 24, 2017

Aussiebushman said:
Yesterday I drove along the (gravel) public road and found to my amazement that the local council were grading the road. They are good at taking money but not too keen to spend it so that road gets attentions only each 2- 3 years at best. The actual machinery operators are good guys and suggested I get onto the council while they were in the area to get approval for "private work" After agreeing with the council to pay $219 per hour, the guys came this morning while the grader and roller were literally just outside my gates.

The section of track they fixed is very steep and they did what my Ford 6000 would have taken a week to do and nowhere near as well. The section has now been graded with good shoulders and drains. Well worth the money.

The moral to this story is to keep a watchful eye for professionals in the area and get a top class job done without paying massive transport costs for a contractor

Good stuff, Mate!! Bloody great suggestion from the Council Workers... it wouldn't have dawned on me to even ask. :thumbsup:

Soldier415 · Aug 24, 2017

airbiscuit said:
Pics please.

Seconded

Egon · Aug 24, 2017

Folks with the proper skills operating equipment for the job at hand make difficult jobs look easy!

Aussiebushman · Aug 24, 2017

Pictures as requested. Those of you who have seen my posts over the last few years will now have a better idea of how rough this country is and why every job is hard work - even for a 70 Hp tractor! You would never know how badly rutted this road was before the lads reshaped and graded it.. The "towards the river" image is the bit they did NOT grade - the original cut was made with a D7 and I did the rest with the tractor

airbiscuit · Aug 24, 2017

Nice.

Birdhunter1 · Aug 25, 2017

Aussiebushman said:
Pictures as requested. Those of you who have seen my posts over the last few years will now have a better idea of how rough this country is and why every job is hard work - even for a 70 Hp tractor! You would never know how badly rutted this road was before the lads reshaped and graded it.. The "towards the river" image is the bit they did NOT grade - the original cut was made with a D7 and I did the rest with the tractor

That looks like the Missouri Ozarks

joeyd · Aug 28, 2017

Nice work! How long was the section they graded and how long did the job take them? $219/hr for a grader and roller is a good price around here. I have about 3 miles of road I get graded and rolled every year. Ditches pulled every 3-4 years and rock (3/4 minus) when we have some extra cash in the road account. Our problem is trucking costs more than the rock since we are about 1 hr away from the quarry.

Aussiebushman · Aug 31, 2017

The section they graded is only about 200 m - the steep section only. The compete road is about 1.5 Km and the rest I can do myself with the tractor and its front dozer and rear scraper blades. The $219 was only the official rate for 1 hour of the grader only (but strictly off the record), the lads and I became good mates so they probably did twice as much work that included a couple of passes with the roller.

Like you, this is a long way from the nearest quarry so fill is out of the question financially. The only solution is to put in good drains and my own rig is only capable of fairly small ones in this hard country. As said at the start of this thread, the answer is to keep watch for the professionals when they come to grade the public roads in the immediate area and become VERY good mates with them. A friendly approach, a cup of coffee or a beer after work does wonders.