Road maintenance tips and dos and don’ts from the experts.
- Do keep your neighbors in mind when making road decisions. Will runoff from your road affect their property?
- Do think about the impact of your road on the environment. Are your decisions contributing to water or air pollution, or soil erosion?
- Do consider vegetation as a cheap problem-solver; seeding a roadside cutbank could prevent its erosion into your road.
- Do invest in quality road materials. Even if they look good, cheap solutions can sometimes end up costing more in the long run.
Road Maintenance Tips: Dirt Don’t Hurt
Russ Lanoie, of Conway, New Hampshire, has written a book full of practical advice on dirt and gravel road construction and maintenance, A Ditch in Time, downloadable free at his website,
www.RuralHomeTech.com. Lanoie, inventor of a front-operated landscape rake attachment for tractors, called the Front Runner, also will answer questions by e-mail: russ @ RuralHomeTech.com.
The Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies at Pennsylvania State University maintains an information-packed website.
Go to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to find your local offices. Information and services are free. You can also check the federal government listings of your telephone book.
For additional information, you can download these resources. The Gravel Roads Maintenance and Design Manual and the Low-Volume Roads Engineering Guide.
To find local offices of state-run conservation districts, which vary in name, go to the National Association of Conservation Districts. You can also check state government telephone listings under “natural resources,” “soil and water conservation,” etc.
Don’t overlook area environmental groups as sources of information and assistance. Efforts by the conservation group Trout Unlimited helped get recurring state financing for the Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies, which offers free road workshops throughout Pennsylvania, in addition to doing research.