A farm I worked on in NE Arkansas had gravel roads that used stone that looked like railroad ballast. It was large enough that it would not wash away under most circumstances and because it was a crushed product it packed well and didn't roll around.

Two things I have learned from doing my driveway is that it is amazing that even if the driveway material is not the best, if it is graded so water will run off of it, it will hold up pretty well, and have a good well packed substrate makes all the difference when it comes to long term stability.

I thought I had a long driveway at 275'. 3100" is your own private road. Maybe you can charge a toll to those using it.

3100' is alot of driveway. Maybe you could charge a toll.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

I never had to worry about that stuff in my Florida days. I worked on a stone patio this past summer and had to take a lot of topsoil out to insure that it would not heave. Soil that holds moisture is the enemy of any grading/paving project, but I think you already know that.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Just got a bid back from one of the local dozer outfits.

$11,500.

Recrown and surface 8' x 3100' of gravel road with pit-run gravel, build two 25' x 25' gravel pads, remove small tinhorn culvert from creek crossing and replace it with two 18" tinhorns, install tinhorn 18" on new road and excavate for and install sills for placement of cattleguard.

Seems like a deal to me.

Based on the geomat information gleaned earlier from Michael, I'm getting them to rebid the new road segment using a geomat before the gravel goes down.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

The road I'm improving (good base, needs recrowning and gravel) runs from the entrance, through the Barn and Moon Pastures and into the Domain to near the 'well/pool' area in the aerial below. The new road runs turns off the existing road near the first crossing and goes to the barn.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

$.4159 per square foot figuring the culverts and tinhorns are thrown in. Hopefully beef prices will go up. If you are like me, you like to do everything yourself, but it is nice to kick back and watch someone else do the work every once in a while.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Absolutely. I'd have liked nothing more than to get a bid of $25,000. Then, I could have used that as a prime excuse buy a small dozer and "get 'er done".

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

That is how I justified to my wife buying the Bobcat. I also want to dig out my basement. It also does a great job for snow removal. Woops, I don't have to justify anything to you, only her.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Hey Leo,
I don't know much about building roads but I have some ideas on finding ballast.

Find a block manufacturing company. They grind and sell defective blocks all the time.

Roof installers/manufacturers. A lot of the Firestone ballasted roofs use rocks as ballast. When roofs are replaced the rocks are removed and need a new home. The good thing about this is they are mostly river rocks. The large round ones that were mentioned earlier.
When they replaced my roof here the guys told me they were getting $50 a truckload. I'm guessing around 10 yards or so a load.

Good luck!

Danny

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1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

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RLeo,
Get the manufacturer's data sheet from the GeoGrid makers before you use it. The holes are sized for a particular size of stone. Use the right stone and it works; use the wrong stone and the results may not be what you want.
Do NOT rely on the guys who puts it down to know whats right. When we first started using the GeoGrid, there was abit of a learning curve as it is similar to woven geofabrics, but not exactly. What some guys "know" is exactly wrong. Do your own homework. Its your money.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Thanks again!

I suspected that might be the case but, then again, the guys that provided the bid may possibly be into the GeoMat curve because they do mine remediation for Alcoa at Rockdale.

Since materials transportation is going to be a big chunk of the expense, we're planning to use pit run gravel from nearby pits on the river...ie: variable stone sizes. Nevertheless, it seems to pack nicely when there's a decent base. Any suggestions?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

A variety of particle sizes is preferred over a product where everything is the same size. Small particles fill the voids between the larger ones.
Imagine a room filled with beach balls. When it is full, there is no more room for any additional beach balls. But you could dump in quite a load of softballs, and they would fit in the space around the beach balls. Then you add still more os say, marble-sized material.
The more voids that are filled with stuff, the less space for water. Water in the voids is the enemy.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

RL I started getting this visual about the BHF GTG

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Man! I might not be able to make it...

Sounds like a reasonable price to me.

Don't cut them any slack on the drainage. If you don't have about six inches drop in 100 feet you will have problems. Check me on the numbers but don't doubt me on the idea. Brush up on a little civil engineering.

We are currently living a mile and a half off of the blacktop. It is a different way of thinking. The landlords have about a half million dollars worth of earth moving equipment. After the recent blizzards there was no getting in or out until the road was cleared. For days afterward the wind drifted the snow over the road and blocked it several times. The next ranch down the road had snow drift up fifteen feet high over the road.

I'm sooo busted.

Fresnos...the horse/mule drawn earthmover. A recent visitor to BHF speculated that our pond may have been excavated by fresno because of the material's angle of repose on the dam face. Anyone ever heard of this?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.