Washout-proofing a ditch

[Bullwinkle123]

Sounds like you need bigger culverts or a second one. I have two driveways at my place. One paved and another gravel one that leads to a small storage building. The gravel drive had a single culvert that was to small and to short. People turned around in that drive and crushed the end. The water during a big rain would over top the culvert and run down the gravel drive and wash it out. I put in two new culverts instead of one and made them 10 feet longer.

In the pic is where I was installing the new culverts. They have handled the flow so far. The drive way runs left to right in the pic and our main road is on the right.View attachment 706644

Ah, wide open space and unencumbered tractor operations in three dimensional space. You're living the dream!

 

[Bullwinkle123]

As for getting the water thru the culverts, there are some posts in TBN here somewhere, where they used old guard rail from road construction projects. That would allow you to drive over them, wouldn't be very deep so bedrock should not be an issue and will control the water and prevent washouts as the water flows across the top of the road. It sounds like what you need is a lined water bar.

guard rail water bar

Interesting. Not sure it scales up when the water is a foot deep though, which is what is flowing in my trench when it rains hard enough. Heck, it is some inches deep just on snow melt. Still, interesting to see your approach.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Just to better understand your problem, doesn't your washout show water running alongside your road - not across the road?

Washout across your road = undersized culverts.
Washout alongside your road = Water moving too fast / ditch too narrow/ ditch material not stable enough.

View attachment 706676

The problem I'm trying to solve in this thread is water running alongside the road. That is what does the most damage to my driveway. What I was hoping to find was a solution that would let me toughen up the face of the driveway material alongside which the water is running. So between your red arrow and the gravel on the right. Doesn't really matter how deep the ditch is if it continues to erode the material alongside it, undermining the driveway.

I did mention a "wash over" the top of the driveway in one storm, but it did relatively little damage, isn't a pervasive problem, and I'm, going to just chalk it up to the conditions of that particular storm (which occurred in december with ice, snow, & debris in the ditches).

From a cost & trouble standpoint, lining the driveway with these might be my best option: 4 in. x 8 in. x 16 in. Solid Concrete Block-30168621 - The Home Depot if I can make them stable. And I don't know enough about cement mixes to know if I can cement them together in a water resistant way. Cheaper and more solid than the paver blocks you suggested, but I'm looking at a vertical solution, not one on the bottom of the culvert which, when the little rocks are washed out (which all came from the driveway), is generally bedrock.

 

[i7win7]

Ah, wide open space and unencumbered tractor operations in three dimensional space. You're living the dream!

Isn't a nightmare also a dream?

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Isn't a nightmare also a dream?
View attachment 706696

One person's nightmare ... yeah. Were it not for the cost of widening pretty much anything about my driveway/ditch, it might be fun. Most of the work isn't stuff my tractor can do.

 

[airbiscuit]

You don't have to widen all of the ditch - just bump out a swale here and there to slow and capture the water.

 

[CalG]

Just an add on.

I've seen.....

That corrugated plastic pipe culvert, sawn in half the long way, and laid down to define the ditch.

Not cheap, not easy, but an idea.

 

[RBA50]

Many years ago the local highway department where I lived in NY tried to fix the ditch across the road from my house. They first tried putting rip-rap in, except they used round stone! I just shook my head. (This is on a fairly steep hill, so plenty of water velocity). Couple days later it rained. A lot. All the stone washed to the first culvert under a driveway at the bottom of the hill, scouring the sides of the ditch as it went, and plugging the culvert. A few days later I came home to find they had lined the ditch with concrete, I assume fiber reinforced, and apparently placed and packed against the side of the ditch with the back side of a backhoe bucket. Still there when I moved away 10 years ago, probably still there now.

 

[chris.benjamin1]

Going untraditional here. I used this method on a creek to control storm runoff. I purchased a pallet of bags of ready mix concrete. I used 60 lb I stacked & lined up the bags where I wanted them. After each course I used a pitchfork to stab a few times so the moisture could enter and cure. After the paper disintegrates you are left with round rocks carefully locked together. There are some pictures online of huge retaining walls done in this style

 

[CalG]

You don't have to widen all of the ditch - just bump out a swale here and there to slow and capture the water.

View attachment 706740
View attachment 706742

You are so fortunate to have such flat, level and open lands.

My situation, and it seems to be that of the OP, is much less available to such accommodations.

Myself, I've got a six foot high or more band of ledge on the high side of the road, with ledge defining the course, grade and slope of the roadway. Gravel was added OVER the solid rock to make the roadway surface, and it is anything but flat! Every rain washes away some of the small stone and fines that are there to hold it all together. It was all that could be done when the road went in. Short of blasting!