Nice work. Hard to tell from the picture but do you have a ditch on the lawn side to divert water away from the road? That’s one option. If there is a rise to the road and no water from the lawn is reaching the road, then I assume the runoff begins at the top of the drive and just works its way down, creating fissures? If that’s the case, another option would be water bars. Check out http://www.umaine.edu/waterquality/lake_a_syst/camproads.htm for starters. It’s not completely thorough but it’s a start. I have a book I highly recommend if you’re interested in learning more. It’s from the Appalachian Mountain Club, titled “The Complete Guide to Trail Building and Maintenance”. Lots of diagrams and such that are relevant to your driveway 🙂 I have some simple dirt water bars down a trail head of mine. I put one about halfway up a 400′ slightly curving incline. After the 14″ rain in late June and the 6″ or so rain this month, below the water bar there is virtually no erosion. Above the water bar, erosion city. So I’m going to be putting in more water bars because clearly they worked. Hope this helps and good luck with the coming rain!
Sean
Mary
on September 19, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Looks great. I’ll cross my fingers for you too.
South Point Man
on September 19, 2006 at 8:02 pm
You have a genuinely terrific driveway. (Not referring here to the road surface but rather the surrounding environs.)
A very nice transitional phase from the humble homestead to the outside world, and vice-versa.
South Point Man
on September 22, 2006 at 9:16 am
I enjoy empty road pictures. They have a moody mystique to them.
Nice work. Hard to tell from the picture but do you have a ditch on the lawn side to divert water away from the road? That’s one option. If there is a rise to the road and no water from the lawn is reaching the road, then I assume the runoff begins at the top of the drive and just works its way down, creating fissures? If that’s the case, another option would be water bars. Check out http://www.umaine.edu/waterquality/lake_a_syst/camproads.htm for starters. It’s not completely thorough but it’s a start. I have a book I highly recommend if you’re interested in learning more. It’s from the Appalachian Mountain Club, titled “The Complete Guide to Trail Building and Maintenance”. Lots of diagrams and such that are relevant to your driveway 🙂 I have some simple dirt water bars down a trail head of mine. I put one about halfway up a 400′ slightly curving incline. After the 14″ rain in late June and the 6″ or so rain this month, below the water bar there is virtually no erosion. Above the water bar, erosion city. So I’m going to be putting in more water bars because clearly they worked. Hope this helps and good luck with the coming rain!
Sean
Looks great. I’ll cross my fingers for you too.
You have a genuinely terrific driveway. (Not referring here to the road surface but rather the surrounding environs.)
A very nice transitional phase from the humble homestead to the outside world, and vice-versa.
I enjoy empty road pictures. They have a moody mystique to them.