building a ditch crossing
building a ditch crossing
(OP)
I own a farm and the tax ditch crossings are showing signs of caving in. These are important because the farmer who leases the land needs to run his equipment over them to access the different fields The ones that appear to have buried metal pipe are pooling water at the entrance instead of flowing under the crossing. I also have sink holes on top of the crossing further lending me to believe I have pipe failure & thus require reconstruction. I would like to tackle this myself. A few of these crossings have buried concrete pipe and they are still in fine shape and passing water through them. - I can get a backhoe and excavate. Any re- construction thoughts?.





RE: building a ditch crossing
If you are in the USA, before doing any work in the water, I would contact both your state environmental regulatory body and the Corps. They will tell you what you need. In PA, for farm accesses, these agencies will generally work with you and let you go with minimal permitting, versus a crossing to build a subdivision, for example. You can probably get by with a General Permit "GP-6 - Agricultural Crossings & Ramps".
Remember: The Chinese ideogram for “crisis” is comprised of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”
-Steve
RE: building a ditch crossing
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As far as the culverts go, you do need to provide adequate cover over your corrugated metal pipes. Backfill needs to be adequately compacted around the pipes (and under the haunches), or they may tend to flatten when you drive over them. As far as pooling water at the entrance, you may need to remove sediment from the ditch to allow the water to drain better. And if your ditch slope is very flat, it may be normal for the water to pool at the inlet to the pipe.
RE: building a ditch crossing
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I would contact your local Soil Conservation District. They should help clarify these issues.
If you have ample cover over the culverts (1.5 ft+) and do not have standing water in the ditch, I would consider double wall (smooth bore) HDPE pipe. It is a easier to install than the concrete pipe (lighter) and wont rust like corrugated metal. If there is water in the ditch, the HDPE may tend to float with makes for a difficult installation (go with the concrete in this situation). If you do the work yourself, be sure to provide proper pipe bedding and compaction of backfill.
RE: building a ditch crossing
In our county you would start with requesting a driveway permit at our Road Commission Office. An Inspector would check the site and issue a permit for the proper sizing of the culvert that will also show all the necessary requirements for installing your culvert and drive. If this driveway is in a drain, the County Drain Commission would be notified first. They would size the Diameter of the culvert for the amount of expected water flow through the drain. We would then issue our permit with their diameter and the length we would require. If environmental permits are required, we would then notify the appropriate agency.
Hope this helps.
RE: building a ditch crossing
Good luck,
H.
RE: building a ditch crossing
Richard A. Cornelius, P.E.
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