Road Maintenance

Forest road maintenance should be evaluated in four areas: road surface maintenance, daylighting, drainage, and access control. We’ll address each of these considerations to give you a better understanding of what you should look for on your forest road system.

Road Surface Maintenance

	Fertilization and seeding the proper grass mixture at the right season will provide a good surface for low usage roads.

Many forest road surfaces consist only of native soil. This earthen surface frequently is adequate, and maintenance is required only when wheel ruts created in the road surface cause water to remain in the roadway. This may reduce vehicle traction, or cause sediment to be transported down to a stream. Occasional grading with a motor grader or farm tractor with a box blade is all that is usually required. But if some type of road surfacing were present, less grading would be required. The most durable road surfacing material is crushed rock or gravel. This material provides protection to the road subsurface, and should be applied thick enough to the road subgrade from the type of vehicles that will use the road. Rock surfaces, which can be tailgate spread directly from a dump truck, or spread with a motor grader, can be expensive. This is especially true as the distance to your road from a rock quarry or borrow pit increases.

A more frequent forest road surface material is grass. A grass surface is a much lower cost material than rock, and provides control of soil movement almost as well as rock. However, if heavy vehicle traffic, such as log trucks or traffic during wet weather is expected, a grass surface will not hold up. If primarily pick-up trucks and other light vehicles will use the road, and this use will occur when the road surface has dried so that ruts are not made in the roadway, a grass surface may be a good option. It not only protects the road surface and minimizes sediment movement, but properly selected grass species can also provide wildlife forage options. You can ask your County Extension Agent or Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservationist for information on grass species to plant in your area.

Maintenance of a grass surface mainly entails mowing every year or two. Grassing works best on outsloped roads, but if used on crowned and ditched roads, the ditches should also be mowed rather than "pulled" with a motor grader blade. Fertilization every fourth or fifth year will also strengthen the surface and provide greater nutritional value for wildlife. However, when wheel ruts are formed, grading with a motor grader becomes difficult. Frequently, the part of the road that has been badly rutted must be reshaped and re-grassed.

Daylighting

A mowed, daylighted road will provide low-cost access to forestland.

It is important to keep the roadway and an adequate right-of-way open to allow sunlight and wind to reach the road surface in order to minimize road maintenance. Frequently, we want to grow trees on every available square foot of forestland. However, when trees and vegetation are allowed to grow too close to the roadway, shading can occur and wind movement is reduced. Both of these factors can reduce the usability of your forest road. When sunlight is allowed to reach the road surface, drying speed can be enhanced. Likewise, if there is a minimal amount of canopy vegetation to retard air movement, the road surface will dry more quickly after a rainfall event.

A good rule to follow for daylighting the road is to allow 2 or 3 times the road width for total cleared area. Control of vegetation in this area is usually accomplished by mowing, but chemical control of woody vegetation can be used if label directions are followed.

Drainage

An improperly maintained cross-drain culvert can create costly maintenance problems.

Rainfall that is allowed to accumulate and remain in or adjacent to the roadway can result in expensive maintenance problems. A wet road surface or saturated foundation often will not support the weight of a vehicle. This can result in irregular access, impassable sections of roadway, and potential environmental degradation. Therefore it is important to keep your road drainage structures free of obstructions and insure that water is directed away from the roadway.

Water turnouts must be free of sediment accumulations so runoff will flow at a velocity that will carry water and suspended sediment out of the drainage channel. Vegetative undergrowth growing in the turnout channel should be cut whenever the roadway is mowed.

Cross-drain culverts should be inspected as you drive on your roads. Look for debris that might obstruct flow into the culvert. You should also construct some form of inlet control that will direct water moving in the lateral ditches into the inlet. An earthen, rock or some type of berm will usually prove adequate for this requirement.

Broad-based dips are frequently used to remove water from outsloped roads. These structures should be sloped away from the road so they will readily drain. If the road will be used during or immediately after a rainfall event, protection of the bottom of the dip with crushed rock should also be considered. This will reduce the creation of wheel ruts, which will hold water.

Access Control

Controlling access to a forest road can reduce maintenance problems and cost.

Allowing traffic to use a forest road when the road surface is saturated is an invitation to maintenance problems. Many times, wheel ruts created on the road surface can be the beginning of a costly maintenance problem. Off-road vehicles used for recreational purposes can cause major damage to the road surface. A road entrance that is "gated" or otherwise blocked is a good investment. It can keep unwanted traffic off of your woods road especially during periods when damaging ruts can be created. If you have closed a temporary road to traffic, use a large water bar that ties into adjacent obstacles such as stumps or large rocks. You should use care when blocking the road access to make sure that the blocking structure is clearly visible. Poorly visible or camouflaged devices such as cables strung across the road entrance can be significant legal liabilities.

Adapted From:

FOREST ROAD MAINTENANCE FOR FOREST LANDOWNERS

Richard W. Brinker
School of Forestry, Auburn University, and Alabama Cooperative Extension System