Maintaining Your Gravel Road

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

SOME ADDITIONAL TIPS

If the road you're determined to improve happens to be an old one-well packed or badly damaged-you may need to wire a few concrete blocks to the blade's frame to increase the tool's weight and thus its cutting and dragging power. Never attempt to accomplish this by having someone ride on the blade; the practice can be lethal! And if you do add weight, do so cautiously, or you may force the blade into the road's substructure. If you're moving anything as big as your fist, you're into road building, not maintenance.

The best time to tackle a road-blading job is shortly after an inch or so of rain has fallen. Then, the dust won't bother you . . . gauging your progress will be much easier because you'll be able to see the darker, damp gravel from beneath the surface as it is scraped up . . . and most important, the material will quickly pack in place from the weight of traffic, rather than slither away on a lubricating film of dry dust.

If your road crosses water, a special note of caution is in order. Obviously, it's necessary to provide enough space beneath the roadway for flooding water and to keep that stream's passageway (such as a culvert pipe or the area under a bridge) cleared out. Not quite so apparent, however, is the need to keep the waterway on the downstream side of the crossing free of debris. Gravel; leaves, and branches are likely to collect in the eddies that form below a pipe or pier. And that swirling water can do damage there in short order.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION . . .

To keep ruts, bumps, and dips from forming in your road in the first place, exercise two simple rules: [1] Drive more slowly than average, and [2] put some weight in the rear of any pickup truck that will be using the road regularly. Speed makes vehicles bounce on their springs, which again lightens the load on the wheels on the "up" bounce, ultimately creating the dreaded washboard effect so familiar to drivers and owners of rural byways. And any unladen pickup truck will spin its wheels on even the slightest hill, thus digging a bonerattling series of trenches and sending precious gravel flying every which way.

Actually, maintaining a gravel road—even a tortuous half-mile stretch like mine—doesn't require time so much as it does common sense and regular loving care. I spend an average of about one hour per month keeping my drive in reasonable shape. During an unusually wet spring or fall, I might have to double that to prevent things from getting out of hand.

I figure the effort is well worth it. By putting in just a little bit of tile and work, you can enjoy your country road . . . and avoid having to pay the local well-to-do dozer artist over and over again!

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print