Working a muddy road

[random]

I've been advised to work my road only when it's dry. I've had to do some work when it's not completely dry and I can understand that advice. But my road is currently in great need of some work (lots of potholes and mud swamps getting worse) and with the weather around here it hasn't had a chance to dry out in over a month, and currently no end in sight.

Any tips for working a muddy road?

 

[D2Cat]

It will be virtually a waste of time and fuel. Depending of course the amount of traffic on a rock base road the pot holes hold the water, a tire goes in the hole, splashed out the water with some of the road material, thus making the pot hole just a tad bit larger and deeper.

The solution is to have some material to put in the hole that has various size of road rock down to fine screenings. But the hole needs to be no wetter then "damp". That little bit of moisture will help to set up the screenings in the larger material to fill the hole and stay there.

The problem you have is why all rock hauling folks are busy beyond belief when there is an extended wet season, whether rain or snow!

 

[Henro]

If possible I would first cut some channels for the water to run out of the "mud swamps."

Other than that, someone with more experience will probably chime in.

 

[bucktail]

Spring tooth or spike tooth harrow will help dry it out and knock a little off of the high spots.

 

[BigG]

This may help. A lot depends on the base that makes up the roadway.

Find a 6 foot piece of heavy I-beam. Weld an eye to each end. Attach it to the draw bar with 2 pieces of chain. This will follow the ground as it rises and falls. This will also fill in the pot holes. If you hit a soft spot and become stuck you can unchain one side and drag it out of the trouble. You can unhook it completely to get the tractor out if you get stuck. Then hook a long chain to the I-beam to recover it.

Do not turn sharp enough to have the chains get caught up on the tires. Use 2 short chains to attach it to the tractor so that you can put an angle on the beam when needed. If you use a single long chain and clevis the chain can slip easily thru the clevis and put an angle on the beam when you need it to be straight.

 

[Code]

Ugh I know this too well. older driveway with shitty engineering here. I tried to remedy with my box blade and it just came back. In my case I need to deal with the runoff from a slope first. then address the driveway

 

[random]

So I have a land plane that I usually use, coupled with stuff like gravel and crushed rock, for the major maintenance. There is a pile of what I think is crushed asphalt the neighbor got that I've been using to fill holes - that stuff locks in pretty solid once it gets a bit wet, and the pot holes actually don't open up very easily afterward.

I put in drainage ditches along about 2/3 mile, with a couple culverts to divert drainage across. This is all on the part that I didn't do drainage. At that time, it didn't seem this part was that bad, but after all the rain we've had, it's getting there.

I know what needs to be done long term (drainage and some build up), but right now I'm just trying to keep things passable until I can do the bigger work that's needed.

My land plane doesn't help much when it's like this.

Might just fill them with some gravel to keep things somewhat ok until I can do the real work.

 

[old and tired]

Is there a good road bed somewhere down there? If not, I would start with filling holes / building up the road bed with #3 Washed Stone which is 2-3 inches average in size. (possible #4 - 3" to 4" stones)

Raise up the road bed and pack it down the best you can. If you have clay and spongy surface where you drive on it and it pops up around the tire... you might get Ballast Rock (4" to 6") This might be extreme but you need a Base before top coating it.

 

[JimmyJazz]

Something I have done that's probably not cost effective on a large scale is to buy some bags of the premixed concrete at Home Depot and to empty them into the water filled pot holes. Stir it a bit with a shovel and voila! After conditions improve add more gravel. Makes me feel better and sometimes that's enough.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

do it right.... hire / borrow a bulldozer, make the road twice as wide as you think it should be ( at least 20' wide), remove whatever is there, haul in big rocks(3-6"),pack down hard, then smaller,pack it, smaller, pack, then 'finings' or whatever they're called in your area. Yes, it's a few bucks up front BUT will last a lifetime with minimal 'maintenance' 2-3 times a year. Friend did this 40 years ago,has only 'top dressed' his 3/4 mile driveway twice. Meanwhile neighbour here has tried the 'patch a bit - here - there' method and it's ALWAYS a disaster....
roads are like roofs..think long term...do it right, once PAYS for itself.

 

[random]

I can't make it "twice as wide" as my easement gives me ten feet.

Thank you all for the input, but it seems maybe I wasn't very clear - my problem isn't the long-term work required. I have that lined up for later this year. I've already done it to 2/3 of the road, this is the part that hasn't been "fixed" yet. The portion that I did the work on is in great shape.

My problem is the immediate situation: the road is becoming almost impassable and is too wet to do anything with, so I'm looking for suggestions on what to do under the current conditions so that I don't get trapped in my house because the truck can't get through the mud.

So far best I can come up with is to fill with some sort of gravel/aggregate for now and wait for it to dry. Seems like that about matches the relevant suggestions here.

 

[RCW]

I wouldn't "work" it at all right now. Like 'Cat and others said, maybe put some fill in as a stop-gap.... maybe channel some water away, but again a stop-gap.

Playing with it to much when soupy is just asking for a BFM (big darned mess...).

I like to rip up my driveway in the spring while thawed but damp. I use the rippers on the boxblade and sometimes a modified middle buster made into a subsoiler for drainage.

You might consider a few strategic rips with a subsoiler to help with drainage now. It’s surprising what a few subsoiler channels can do to direct water away, even if it’s a short term repair.

 

[random]

That seems to be about it. At least I have several tons of fill. Hopefully this year won't be as wet as last year and I'll have a chance to do some real work on it.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Ok, if you can 'channel' the water to go away from the road, it'd help 'firm up' what you already have. The challenge I suppose is the water's on the wrong side of the road ? If so , maybe add another culvert ?
we've got a major highway shutdown for 2-3 YEARS cause the idiot 'engineers' didn't put culverts in....

 

[random]

Ok, if you can 'channel' the water to go away from the road, it'd help 'firm up' what you already have. The challenge I suppose is the water's on the wrong side of the road ? If so , maybe add another culvert ?
we've got a major highway shutdown for 2-3 YEARS cause the idiot 'engineers' didn't put culverts in....

The problem is that there is no drainage on either side in the area the water is pooling, and it's too muddy to try to add some along the sides. I'm going to see if I might be able to dig some channels, as has been suggested, but I'm not sure how much I can do with what I have.

Long term I intend to add a drainage ditch and one more culvert.

On a positive note, at the front where it meets the highway, I leveled out with the crushed asphalt and it's been holding up extremely well, no new holes or even low spots there!

 

[RCW]

random - - maybe look at a subsoiler for future reference. I don't use mine a lot, but sometimes they're handy. They're also pretty cheap compared to some other ground-engaging implements.

Many 'soilers are too long for a BX; I had to modify a small middle buster.

Guessing your L will have no problems.

Not knowing your topography, I'd rip 60-90 degrees across the road. I can get ~16" deep with mine after several passes, and it's little.

Surprising the water they'll shed, even if it's 2 weeks or months.

 

[old and tired]

random, if you want to borrow a Subsoiler, let me know...

 

[RCW]

random, if you want to borrow a Subsoiler, let me know...

Another example of why OTT is a great thing. Very generous offer from @old and tired...

I was thinking of shipping mine, but small for an L, and not logical over almost 1,000 miles.

For what it's worth...in stock in Norwich, NY.

I have the CountyLine Middle Buster. Been fine and Quick Hitch compliant:

Search Results for subsoiler at Tractor Supply Co.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

well I see you've got a backhoe so...
place tractor pointing 'downhill' at pool, dig shallow channel, move tractor 'downhill' again, dig another 8' channel. I did this for 300' with my BX23S. yes, it's slow but easy to do and you get good at pushing tractor with BH bucket.... I did mine in a day with several breaks....., the more you do, the faster you get...a lot depends on how 'hilly' the area is...

 

[eipo]

You can add larger aggregate now, 2-4" or 4-6" depending on exactly how deep the mud is. Its not ideal but will push down and give you a solid base.

For future planning, once everything dries up, regrade this base with a crown that leads into what will be the flowline of your ditches then build the top with a consistent 3-4" layer of whatever youre going to use. 3/4 minus makes a good top layer. Roads/driveways that last and require little maintenance dont just deal with surface water, they also manage subsurface water. If your top layer isn't consistent and homogeneous, it will pothole far faster than if it was and if the base layer isnt graded to shed water, it will just stand. Freeze/thaw cycles then take over and break up your top layer.