I have inherited a site that has a gravel road and pad built over a layer of loam top soil. The area is prone to being muddy after very short rainfalls, and I have been looking at options to improve this. This problem is compounded by the previous thought that adding more gravel would fix the muddiness problem and so I have about 2 feet of gravel overtop of a 12" loam layer. There is also very little drainage. Aggregate that was put down was a 3/4" crush.

I'm looking for ideas on what is the most cost effective way of fixing this problem. I think I probably have to strip the aggregate back, remove the loam, and grade and pack the clay with a good cross slope, and then put the aggregate back. I'm guessing the aggregate probably has loam mixed in with it now, and so I'm wondering of ways that I can still use this aggregate, maybe clean it up somehow. 2 feet is a lot of aggregate (in some cases its even more), and so I would like to re-use if possible.

If I can re-use it, I would like to put a geotextile and geogrid down, and only use 12" of aggregate so I can double the size of my pad. If I build more pad though, I don't want to use poor quality gravel and extend my problem into new areas.

Any ideas are very appreciated.

Thanks,
Chad