Environmentally Sensitive Dirt, Gravel, and Low-volume Road Maintenance Program for Community Associations

The Lake Wallenpaupack Watershed Management District recently completed a major series of water quality improvement projects with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Growing Greener program. Grant funding helped community associations address road maintenance issues and correct sediment and nutrient pollution originating from dirt, gravel, and low-volume roads within the Lake Wallenpaupack Watershed. LWWMD partnered with Pike County Conservation District, Wayne Conservation District, and the Penn State Center for Dirt, Gravel, and Low-Volume Road Studies to offer this program and are grateful for their assistance. Ten community associations were awarded funding to address thirty project sites. Total value of work completed as part of the project was $713,110.

While this program has ended, the technical guidance and resources below are still incredibly valuable to any association looking to implement environmentally sensitive maintenance practices.

Check back soon for more information and summaries of work completed as part of this project

Special thanks to the Penn State Center for Dirt, Gravel, and Low-Volume Road Studies for partnering with LWWMD and sharing their expertise. Additional technical information can be found on the Center ‘s website, but the resources most relevant to the Lake Wallenpaupack Watershed are listed below.

Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance (ESM) Field Guide: A downloadable pdf of the spiral-bound booklet given to our workshop attendees.

Technical Bulletins

Pipes

Headwalls and Endwalls: General information on the benefits of headwalls and endwalls at pipes.
Stacked Stone Headwalls: Details on how to construct headwalls and endwalls out of native stone.
Crosspipe Installation: Important considerations and a walkthrough of a typical crosspipe installation.
Shallow Crosspipe Installation: Installing pipes based on outlet elevation, not road elevation, to eliminate outlet trenches.
Crosspipe Standard Detail Sheet

Sub-surface Drainage

French Mattress: French mattresses allow water to pass under a road through coarse stone.
Underdrains: General information on underdrains and where and why to use them.
Constructed Stone Underdrains: Walkthrough of creating your own underdrain with perforated pipe, clean stone, and fabric.
French Mattress Standard Detail Sheet

Surface Drainage

Surface Drainage Practices: Road maintenance features designed to shed water from the travelway, including crown and cross-slope, grade breaks, and broad-based dips.
Crown and Cross-Slope: Different types of crown and proper cross-slope for unpaved roads.
Grade Breaks: Grade breaks are surface drainage features that stop concentrated flow and road erosion.
Broad-Based Dips: Surface dips that transport water across the surface of a low volume road.
Surface Maintenance: General information on maintaining unpaved road surfaces.
Raising the Road Profile: Raising the elevation of the road to achieve better drainage.
Raising the Road Profile Standard Detail Sheet
Road Crown Standard Detail Sheet

Road Surface Maintenance

Carbide-Tipped Blade: Benefits of a carbide-tipped blade for surface maintenance operations.

Road Banks

Bank Benches: Steps created in a road bank to slow and control the flow of water over the bank.
“Through-the-Bank” Pipes: A pipe placed through the downhill road bank to get water out of the road profile.
“Through-the-Bank” Pipe Standard Detail Sheet
Crosspipe and “Through-the-Bank” Pipe Standard Detail Sheet

Driving Surface Aggregate (DSA)

DSA: A summary of the Center-developed DSA. Includes material specification, sampling and testing, preparation for placement, placement, compaction, maintenance, and other considerations.
Road Aggregates 101: A summary of size, gradation, and typical use for some of the more common aggregates for road maintenance in Pennsylvania. Includes course aggregates and rip-rap.

DGLVR Materials Calculator– This link will take you to the Materials Calculator page on the DGLVR Center ‘s website