Your track after heavy rain, what to fix first

After a wet stretch, most rural tracks around Central Victoria show the same handful of problems. Knowing which one you are looking at tells you whether it is a quick fix or a drainage job.

Ruts down the wheel paths

Ruts mean traffic on ground that was too wet to carry it. Grading them out is straightforward, but if the track sits lower than the ground either side, water will keep sitting in it and the ruts will be back. That is a crossfall and drainage fix, not a surface fix.

Washouts and scouring

A washout means water ran along the track rather than off it, usually because there is nowhere for it to leave. Cutting the crossfall back in and putting in table drains, mitre drains or a hump gives the water an exit before it gains enough speed to take your surface with it.

Soft or boggy patches

Persistent soft spots are usually a spring, a clay pan or a low point holding water, not a lack of gravel. Tipping more material on top of a wet base sinks and disappears. It needs the water dealt with first, then rebuilding.

Corrugations and loose gravel

Corrugations come from speed and dry loose material with nothing binding it. A grade to redistribute and reshape the surface helps, and keeping crossfall so the fines are not constantly washing off keeps it there longer.

The order to do things in

Water first, shape second, surface third. That order is why a track that has been graded three times still fails every winter, the water was never given anywhere to go.

What we look at on site

We follow the track from the high side down and work out where water is getting on and where it can get off, then quote the shaping, drains and any material it needs. If a section only needs a grade, that is all we do.

Got a job in mind? Send your address and we'll come out, have a look, and put a written quote together. No obligation.