At last, visible progress

After months of investigation, discussion, drawings, more discussion, and a few decisions, we finally had some action.

A few weeks ago the county highway department began cleaning out the ditch along the county road. Then we had a string of snow falls and some really cold weather that halted the progress. Monday, while I was outside, a county dump truck stopped on the state road and backed down the driveway. It was one of the guys coming to say they would like to install our culverts the next day. The ditch was ready on our side of the road.

"Great. Go ahead," I said.

So yesterday the county installed two 18" double-walled plastic culverts. One is at the bottom of the hill where almost all of the surface water drains through as it leaves the property. We had already decided that we would not use the existing opening in the fence there for our primary access because of all the water that is often there. It's too wet and slippery for a few days after it's rained, and it would sometimes be impassible in frozen winter weather, especially with the added problem of having to climb the hill almost immediately after entering the property.

The second culvert was placed about halfway up the hill where we can come onto the property at almost the exact same altitude that we plan to place the parking area. Though the driveway will meander to get there, it will not run up- nor downhill more than a foot or so all the way across to the parking spot.

The county crew was great. They cut down some of the trees that we would have had to cut ourselves and dragged them down the road and onto the property where I can cut them for various uses. The culverts were covered with a gravel-dirt mix and limestone blocks were stacked to protect the ends from erosion. The flow down the ditch along the road can be very strong sometimes.

Here are a few pictures of the installation.


Covering the lower culvert


Removing trees at the driveway


Covering the driveway culvert


Placing limestone end wall