Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1901-04-12
BUILDING CULVERTS.
SHOULD BE MADE TO TAKE EVERY
ADVANTAGE OF FALL.
Avoid Placing Pipes In ,IudhoIea.
now the Excavation should BE
Made-Points ON Intakes .nJ Ont
iets-Constructing Abutm.n,s

Only the best grades Of culvert pipe,
should be used and these So placed Il,
10 take every advantage of obtalnal,l,
fall and quickly handle the storm wa
ter that accumulates ON the upper sid,
OF the roadway, says an expert in TIL,
Kansas Farmer. The placing of pin,
IN a mudhole aud filling by dumpin.
upon 1t has made more trouble for roa,
builders than any other one practice
lf necessary to build a pipe culvert
where n mudhole exists, it is better tc
| go to one side on the hard. firm ground
and excavate there n place for the pipe
rather than to attempt to fill the mud
hole, so as TO obtain solid bearing for
the pipe. In most places where II /,
necessary for a culvert to cross the
roadway a slight change can be made
at nominal expense to divert the course
of the water so it will go through the
culvert wherever the ground is most
suitable for ii to be placed.
In excavating for culverts the uppor
end or intake should be kept as high
as possible In order to retain all the
fall obtainable. The lower end should
not be lower than the ditch into which
1t empties, and the outfall of the ditch
should be such as will thoroughly
drain all storm water delivered by the
culvert. The excavation should have
sloping banks, the bottom being shap.
ed to the contour of the pipe. Exca-
vationS should be made where the
sockets come, so that the pipe will seat
the entire length and not rest on the
socket end alone, thereby giving an un
even bearing on the pipe.
In laying pipe for culverts the road
builder should commence at the lower
ditch, with sockets up, and continue
laying section after section until the
culvert is across the roadway. Then
good abutments of large enough stone
SO as not to be easily displaced should
be built around the end, the stone be-
ing carried from under up and around
over the pipe. At the lower end, IL
much fall is obtained, spillway
should be riprapped or paved with
stone to prevent the water from wash
ing out the lower section of pipe. In
filling In the cover over the pipe care
should be taken to preserve the align
ment of the flow line on the inside of
the pipe, so as to have regular, even
fall from the upper TO the lower side.
The dirt should be carefully tamped
under and around the pipe in layers.
There should not be less than two
tampers to four shovelers when dirt is
being filled in. All dirt filed in after
the pipe Is placed should be tamped as
compactly as possible and built up
high enough in the center. with long
slopes back on to the roadway, TO pre-
vent the accumulation of water in the
rutS near the culvert. Avoid all alb
rupt slopes. Covers on culverts should
be SO placed that one could drive along
at good gait without knowing he was
going over culvert.
The filling in on top Of the pipe of "A
ridge Of dirt that Is an obstruction in1
the road should never be permitted, as
it Is menace to the life of the cul-
vert. These abrupt slopes do not drain |
the water off or away from the culvert, |
but permit 1t to accumulate in the ruts |
and soften up the roadway. The ma
jorty of culvert pipe broken in road |
ways is not from the weight of the We
hicles on the pipe, but from side blow |
In deep rut, where the momentum, |
added to the load by the team, frac-
lures the pipe on the side as with a
blow from a hammer. Long, sloping |
covers should be placed on all pipe cul-
yerts, thoroughly draining the storm
water away from the pipe, except
where macadam covers are resorted to.
The method of protecting pipe cul-
verts in roadways with macadam COW
ars where it is not possible to obtain
dirt covers of sufficient depth is as fol-
ows: Proceed with the eXcavating and
back filling as already described. tamp-
ng the dirt in thoroughly two or three
inches over the pipe, shaping it like
'oof, to an apex. After this alternate
AYERS Of macadam or broken stone and
.lay that will tamp well should be
placed over the pipe and thoroughly
bringing the macadam up to
md slightly above grade, so when set
led it will not be below the surface of
he grade.
In making the excavation for the
nacadam cover the sides of the exca-
alton should be more Sloping than
When making excavations for dirt COW
RS. approximately on the following
lope: IL the excavation Is two feet
Ieep, the opening at the top of the
,rade should be five or six feet across,
eaving a long, slopng bank on either
ide. Care should be taken not to dis
urb the dirt under and around the
ipe. but the bottom Of the excavation
hould be carefully shaped to the con
our of the pipe with round pointed
hovel.
The roadmaker will frequently find
impossible to place a large size cul-
ert pipe in position and obtain proper
over. BY referring to the capacity
able of pipe on different falls he can |
,adily find the number of smaller pipe,
wo or more. that will equal the capac- I
v of the larger pipe and obtain a l
roper cover at the same expense. If
e were attempting to put in "A inch !
ipe. and found that he would only l
ave six inches of cover, he could sub
.itute two 1S inch pipes and obtain
le same capacity with II inches of !
,ver without increasing the height of 4
lie grade.
Public Highways.
Slowly but surely the work of i'm I