Critical gradient for construction vehicles - guidance

[dmsk17]

Hi,

A project I am working on has a rural local access road which is to be used for construction traffic (large loads on flatbed trucks and low loaders). The road has a short section with a gradient in the region on 15% which is causing much disagreement among the parties involved as to whether the construction vehicles will be able to handle it.

Are there any best practice documents available for temporary / construction site access roads or can anybody share their experience in this regard?

Many thanks.

 

[ACtrafficengr]

What if you put the equivalent weight in concrete blocks on a trailer and tried pulling it up the hill? Or simply ask the hauler what he thinks his trucks can do? One practical answer would be better than a lot of theoretical speculation.

I was once asked to cast a dividing vote on whether a 10 foot lane was sufficient for trucks on a bridge on a curve. The designer said that's enough for an 8' 6" truck. The construction manager said more room was needed for off-tracking. I said get some flaggers out there, cone off a lane, and see what happens. A few squashed cones later, we were laying out a truck detour.

How heavy are these loads? What is the pavement thickness and condition? Are you going to use up the road's remaining ESAL capacity with this one project?

 

[bridgebuster]

The attached is a presentation I stumbled on a while ago; it may be of help to you.

 

[dik]

Often with grades in excess of 10% I put a transition portion at the bottom and the top, but this is for passenger vehicles. I wouldn't think a truck would have any difficulty.

Dik

 

[dmsk17]

Thanks all the responses.

We have resolved the issue with an alternative layout.