Road Building

[davemhughes]

We bought 15ac out at the lake with the land bordering Corp of Engineer land on 3 sides. It has a nice build spot on a point over looking the lake. The land had no road access into it. (I will post photos as I go) I bought a SAME tractor as I figured I could build a road myself verses paying some one to do it. I first had to clear about a 30ft wide x 30ft deep section of large evergreens off of the county road. My Husky 455 rancher chain saw sure cut that section out with no problem. The ground slopes up at a sharp angle from the road so after I cut the trees down and cut them up I used my tractor w/fel to push them up out of the way. I dug a trench and dropped a 20ft x 18inch double walled plastic culvert in and covered it dirt and engaged the 4x4 and started digging out the sharp rise in ground. Over the next several hours managed to get it dug down so I could get up over the rise. Once on top I started pushing dirt from on top down the hill to decreased the angle of slope. I used my 7ft woods drag blade to level the ground further on up the property using the dirt I scaped doing this to dump down the slope. While I was there the county guys just happened to drive by with their chipper and they chipped up all the trees for me for nothing and once their dump truck was full dumped it up top in a cople of big piles. That chipper they had was eating big evergreen trunks like pretzel sticks.

My SAME tractor worked hard and ran great.....lots of power. Nothing bad to say about it and the county guys were impressed with all the work I did with it especially on such a steep slope to start till I got it knocked down.....more to follow as i go.

 

[EddieWalker]

Dave,

Sure sounds like exiting times for you!!!

Take lots and lots of pictures. In just a few years it will be just a memory of what it "used" to look like. All your friends, and even yourself, will have trouble remembering how it was and everything you had to do to cut a road through the woods.

Enjoy,
Eddie

 

[Thomas]

Morning Dave.
Don't you love it when a plan comes together and than some.

Post some pics when you get a chance.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Obviously that is a "before" photo because there is no dirt on that tractor!

When it comes time to start building the road for yourself, please don't follow the recommendations of our government road builders. Instead go back into history to the Roman empire, those guys built roads that are still in use today after 2000 years! Seems to me my county can build a road that will turn into a pothole obstical course in under 2 years

Dig your road base deep, lay in a geotextile material with rock over it, or lay in multiple layers of rock for drainage and for compression so that you have a good solid base that doesn't move. Keep the center of the roadway crowned a little higher than the edges so water doesn't pool on it. Make sure water near the roadway has clear paths of flow for drainage and doesn't undermine your work, put in culverts as needed and cut swales to direct the water flow.

 

[andrewj]

Bob, the Romans didn't have overloaded semi trucks to contend with! Hence, the invention of transport police.

 

[davemhughes]

Lots of rain here today.....very muddy.....did manage to rough blade and chainsaw my way the entire 2500 ft

 

[gemini5362]

Dave how did you make the ditch for the culvert did you use your box blade with rippers or the front end loader. I need to make a ditch just not sure of a good way to do it ?

 

[davemhughes]

Dave how did you make the ditch for the culvert did you use your box blade with rippers or the front end loader. I need to make a ditch just not sure of a good way to do it ?

I used a combo of the fel and drag blade plus a little shovel work.....it turned out well as it supported a heavy dump truck already

 

[andrewj]

I used a combo of the fel and drag blade plus a little shovel work.....it turned out well as it supported a heavy dump truck already

nope, too clean. come clean. your brother in law got a backhoe, right?

 

[Paddy]

Drive ways need either money or time! From the looks of your photos, no steep hills or heavey forest. Idealy, you would want to remove all the top soil on your road bed and build up the road bed from the future ditch area. This will create an elevated road with good ditches on both sides. This requires a dozer! Then many tri axels (20 ton loads) of #2 base stone. The #2 is a crushed stone about the size of golf balls to lemons. Go with about 6-8". Then drive it for a few months and top with 4-6 " of 5s an 3s and dust. This stone is grape sized and smaller but with lot's of dust. This settles real well and locks it all together. at 2500 ft x 12 ' wide 1.2 ' deep, you will need 1333 yards of stone. This will cost $10,000 to $13,000. in stone.

Or if you want to save money up front, wait untill July when it's real dry and skip the bull dozer work and just get 4to5 inches # 2. Use a yard box to make your drainage. In dry times keep buying stone. Never have stone delivered in wet conditions. The stone they drive over will be half way to China! Save your fine road building for after you build. Concrete trucks will make you cry

Looks like a fun project.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Dave, looks like things are shaping up. The best advice I can give about road building is the dryer you can keep it the better road you will have and the less stone you will have to put on it in years to come. Make sure you take care of any wet spots and keep it graded so you don't have any water laying on it after a rain. A little water makes a big mess and any place that there is water will make the road soft and cause problems and potholes.

 

[Kubotasrking]

Lots of rain here today.....very muddy.....did manage to rough blade and chainsaw my way the entire 2500 ft

Looks like work...I mean fun. Nice job.

 

[davemhughes]

Well for now I just need something to drive on to get back there and start clearing the build site and get those thorny locus tress cut out and the land bush hogged. I called an excavator service and they were suposed to show up last week. The one thing I truely beleive is anytime they say they will be there on a given date and time is that the will not be there. So I will do as much as I can myself.

I plan on doing this in phases......the county guys are going to build my entry (1st 50ft) that ties into the county gravel road. The tube I have in there now they will take out (not to county code) and they will pick up the 24in x 24ft metal culvert (I paid $345.00 for the tube) I ordered and deliver it then use their case backhoe to set it the way they want plus bring in dirt and several loads of rock.......its a good deal as it free except for the tube purchase. Plus the excavator service wanted $1200 to just do this part....I did not know the county would do it for free.......I love it when your government actually does something for you.

I am going to lay as much of the wood chips as I can down as a base....it worked well n the slope....it is hard to see but the slope use to to be at a very steep angle. The chips gave good traction and I can get all of them I want for free.....the county has a Huge pile of them and I know it will take my 18ft trailer a while to carry enough but I figure if I haul a few loads ever week eventually I will have that part done. Then in the spring I will get a 60T load of rock every payday ($400 delivered)......by fall it should be covered.

Then get the well drilled and cased. The really bad news is the electric company(@*%#@$#)....I fall just inside a different electric company's area and not the larger power company. The larger one Westar Energy puts in $16,000 worth of power poles free of charge if you build your home total electric. Thats more than enough power poles. But.....DS&O rural co-op charges you $4.00 a ft for power if you use poles and $7.00 a ft if you trench and lay them underground. I have to pay them $300 just to come look and give a firm price on power. So big money to get power back there. I am exploring alternate power options but in the end they got me and I will pay.

 

[Renze]

The wood chips only work short time.
Next year they'll be half decomposed and create a slicky layer that doesnt drain water. It'll be a mess by then...

 

[wushaw]

Bury your electrical, with 2500ft of overhead powerlines and a good ice storm will mean you won't get service restored till the multy households do.

 

[KEG]

Dave,

You've gotten some good advise here. Remember - water is the enemy of a solid road. I would like to add one other suggestion. Get some geotextile fabric for your road. It is relatively cheap and will do wonders for keeping soft spots and pot holes away. Near st. Louis we can get Mirafi 500X (which is 12.5' x 420') for $260 per roll. I have found it to be money well spent. Keeps the rock from getting lost into your subbase, spreads those heavy loads so you don't get rutting, and allows you to get by with less rock.

KEG

 

[gemini5362]

Well for now I just need something to drive on to get back there and start clearing the build site and get those thorny locus tress cut out and the land bush hogged. I called an excavator service and they were suposed to show up last week. The one thing I truely beleive is anytime they say they will be there on a given date and time is that the will not be there. So I will do as much as I can myself.

I have had some experience with locust trees. If I could get english walnuts to grow 1/10 as good as locust trees do I would be a very happy camper. I have tried cutting them down. out of the stump that I have left when I have done that 4 more grow back. I have pulled them out of the ground and got as many roots as I can then in the spring I only have a few dozen new ones. I have had some luck with spraying a poison on them and then when they die pulling them and the roots attatched out of the ground. That way is working sort of. I have gotten from a forest of them around my workshop to just three or 4 and I am going to try to get them this spring.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Using fabric ontop of your subgrade and under your stone is fine. Just remember that its not magic carpet. You still need to get your subgrade and drainage prepared properly. Also don't skimp on the stone just because you have laid down fabric. If there isn't enough stone on the fabric it will just pull and wrinkle when the heavy trucks run on it to spread your stone..