Cost of Building an Access Road

[montanadave]

I'm trying to get some perspective on road building costs, as I have not done this before. I recently bought some rural land and needed to put in an access road to my building site. The topography is not particularly rough but the route winds around a bit, crosses several coulees, cuts through some timber, and climbs a pretty decent grade the last couple of hundred yards. Length is right at a mile.

The works includes building an approach off the county road with a 40' ten-inch culvert, crossing a 20' deep coulee about sixty feet wide requiring another 40' culvert, taking out some timber, and installation of two additional culverts on other drainages. The access road is 14' wide and, while a significant amount of the work was across rolling meadow and could be cut with a grader, there are some shale and sandstone breaks which required a track hoe to break through.

After the initial track was graded, close to 1000 yards of pit run gravel from on site was distributed on the road, graded, and compacted with a vibratory roller.

I realize it's difficult to assess the work required without actually seeing the site, but for those with a little experience in this type of work, what would be a reasonable cost range for such a project?

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I dont know the cost but here are some things to consider.

Have you had and enginer or a dozer operator evaluate the route you want the road to run? I know you stated what you think is best but a pair of experienced eyes may change a lot.

I dont know what you do for a living? But use your friends, I have several friends who are operators by trade and will work for free if not a lot less.

You can rent a dozer from a lot of places but some will only rent to a business.

The reason I brought all this up is my wife and I have been through all this. We got a dozer rented and droped off at our property through a friend who worked for a construction company. Then we paid our friend to come and run the machine.

Jon

[davidjinks]

I'm gonna second what ICAN has said. I'll also add...

What kind of survey have you had done? Compaction tests? Are you planing on paving it? How much will the road be used? What will the road be used for?

There's a lot more questions that can be asked. For a mile of road that needs to be cut, filled, rolled and set...it all depends on what quality you want out of it. Do you want a road that'll be there in 25 years after all the environmental factors impact it or do you want a road that'll "last" for a couple years and you'll have to maintain it more than you'll use it?

I support a lot of large construction companies doing what I do for a living. I can tell you that the current job I'm on has a lot of road/track building going on. Just for the cut, fill and roll on the initial phase, for a mile of road I'd estimate it was around 50k.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I'm gonna second what ICAN has said. I'll also add...

What kind of survey have you had done? Compaction tests? Are you planing on paving it? How much will the road be used? What will the road be used for?

There's a lot more questions that can be asked. For a mile of road that needs to be cut, filled, rolled and set...it all depends on what quality you want out of it. Do you want a road that'll be there in 25 years after all the environmental factors impact it or do you want a road that'll "last" for a couple years and you'll have to maintain it more than you'll use it?

I support a lot of large construction companies doing what I do for a living. I can tell you that the current job I'm on has a lot of road/track building going on. Just for the cut, fill and roll on the initial phase, for a mile of road I'd estimate it was around 50k.

Good point Dave lots of factors for sure. I dont suppose your the Dave Jenkins from RPD are you?

[davidjinks]

No sir...I'm Dave Jinks from PA though... :)

What's RPD?



Good point Dave lots of factors for sure. I dont suppose your the Dave Jenkins from RPD are you?

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

No sir...I'm Dave Jinks from PA though... :)

What's RPD?

A small local traing company

[montanadave]

The road is for access to some recreational acreage which we will be using primarily on weekends, holidays, etc. I have a contractor hired who is local and has years of experience doing excavation and roadbuilding on area farms and ranches, as well as for the county. We walked the entire route and he suggested several options. The route we eventually chose required negotiating a trade with an adjoining property owner to acquire a 5 acre parcel which permitted us to skirt a rather deep coulee with a lot of timber. The road will not be paved and will never be the autobahn, although next year I may have it top dressed with some road base over the compacted pit run material.

The goal is to have a good three season road in and out which will still be passable even with a little rain now and then. I'm building a barn this summer with a bunkhouse and we hope to build a decent cabin over the next five years or so.

[ST911]

Be sure to contact your local planning/development folks to inquire about the standards you will have to meet in construction of the approach if you're tying in to a gov road. They may also have standards you have to meet within your property if you'll be affecting drainage. If you're affecting other water flow, there will be more than that. Surveys and studies may be required.

[montanadave]

Be sure to contact your local planning/development folks to inquire about the standards you will have to meet in construction of the approach if you're tying in to a gov road. They may also have standards you have to meet within your property if you'll be affecting drainage. If you're affecting other water flow, there will be more than that. Surveys and studies may be required.

Done. Application for the approach was submitted to and approved by county road supervisor.

[davidjinks]

Maybe a recommendation for the road (I'm by no means an expert at road building but I have been staying in a hotel lately)…

Good solid base for the road (Clean fill, no vegetation) rolled, GAB rolled on top of that and some 53 stone with a solid roll on top of that.

I think that the GAB with a stone top will give you a good, 3 season road, with little maintenance during use. Even is you have to do maintenance, it'll be the stone that needs to be replaced. I've seen some cool shit done with GAB. After a good roll it will support the constant abuse of large/heavy vehicle traffic (80+ tons) with very little wear and damage. One section of the track that's being built at my current site has seen extended tank traffic. So far it's been maybe patched 3-4 times over a year period.

Maybe just an idea for you to look into...

[jwfuhrman]

Thee first base layer of stone you will want something fairly big then go over that and compact it. On top of that 53's will be perfect to fill in the rest of the way. The larger stone gives a firm solid base and won't "sink" in like just putting only 53's down would.

I just recently did a similar project and did it that way. Total cost was 15k for my area(no timber had to be cleared and no deep ditches).

[montanadave]

Sounds like we're on the right track. The "pit run" material I have on site is a decent mix of fines with some very coarse material (think glacial moraine-type material with stones up to 6-12" and occasionally larger). Once bladed and compacted, it should provide a very solid base.

And the price is right at about $15K to this point (which was significantly less than I anticipated when we first assessed the site). The contractor estimates it would probably run another $15K to bring in a graded road aggregate for a "top coat" as that material would need to be purchased off-site and hauled in.

Right now, I'm thinking we'll wait a year on the top coat, giving the road a chance to settle, see how it holds up over next winter, address any trouble areas which might pop up, and then put down the graded road material. That will also give my wallet a chance to heal up. :laugh:

I appreciate the feedback and advice. I think I got a hell of a road for the price and a solid foundation to build on going forward.

[davidjinks]

I agree..to an extent. If you were going to use the road for, say a logging road or heavy equipment road, then I would go with large stone for a base. This is based solely on the construction sites I've been supporting for the last 2 years with this type of construction taking place.

Also, a plus side to not using large stone for a base would be conserving capital (Saving money). Larger the stone, the more open pockets between the stone, the more 53 it'll take to fill it in. Another good benefit of having the GAB would be a solid (Concrete almost) layer with little waste of the 53.



Thee first base layer of stone you will want something fairly big then go over that and compact it. On top of that 53's will be perfect to fill in the rest of the way. The larger stone gives a firm solid base and won't "sink" in like just putting only 53's down would.

I just recently did a similar project and did it that way. Total cost was 15k for my area(no timber had to be cleared and no deep ditches).

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

You can use BONE in the real wet spots. Also check your local town a lot of the towns around me give residents x amount of free stone a year.

[montanadave]

I agree..to an extent. If you were going to use the road for, say a logging road or heavy equipment road, then I would go with large stone for a base. This is based solely on the construction sites I've been supporting for the last 2 years with this type of construction taking place.

Also, a plus side to not using large stone for a base would be conserving capital (Saving money). Larger the stone, the more open pockets between the stone, the more 53 it'll take to fill it in. Another good benefit of having the GAB would be a solid (Concrete almost) layer with little waste of the 53.

The primary reason the rather coarse "pit run" material was used was cost. I have the material on my property so it was free and it didn't need to be hauled any further than down the new access road that runs right past the pit location. It might not be the ideal material, but I think it will work well enough and using it probably cut my costs in half.

[montanadave]

You can use BONE in the real wet spots. Also check your local town a lot of the towns around me give residents x amount of free stone a year.

BONE?

[davidjinks]

100% agree with you one this. I must have missed "On-Site" in the last post. If you have the material there at your disposal...I'd be using that up like a fatty eatin twinkies.

Don't get me wrong, the materials everyone has listed will work and work well. So many ways to skin the cat...

Keep us posted on the final results.



The primary reason the rather coarse "pit run" material was used was cost. I have the material on my property so it was free and it didn't need to be hauled any further than down the new access road that runs right past the pit location. It might not be the ideal material, but I think it will work well enough and using it probably cut my costs in half.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

BONE?

Big round rocks about the size of a nerf foot ball

[montanadave]

Just thought I'd post an update. The road is in and has seen a little truck traffic what with the cement trucks and materials hauled onto the site for my pole barn (Phase One with the new property). By my estimation (and with admittedly limited experience in this area), the road turned out well and I am pleased with the work. Here's a few photos I took yesterday after we got my barn buttoned up.

A view from about halfway in along the mile-long access road.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/6678/img2268l.jpg

Another view before starting up the hill towards the new barn.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6093/img2267n.jpg

And the barn. I poured a concrete pad (with drains/vents for plumbing lines) under half the building (32' x 48') and plan to frame in a portion for use as a temporary "bunkhouse" of sorts while we contemplate our cabin project.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/570/img2266s.jpg

The cabin will sit just over the hill from the barn on a meadow which opens up to some nice views of the mountains.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/4946/img2212kf.jpg

Just for the sake of comparison, here's the original access road when we purchased the property in early March.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6094/img2238m.jpg

[6933]

Jealous. How many acres do you have?

[3 AE]

Montanadave, That is just .... Beautiful!!! Having a hilltop with a great mountain view, the mixture of tall grass and trees, and the terrain. Wow! I rarely use the word awesome, but that right there is 100% of awesomeness! Oh by the way, where's the shooting range going to be located? :smile:

[montanadave]

Jealous. How many acres do you have?

217 acres. About 60% meadow/pasture and 40% timber with a small creek cutting across one corner.

[Suwannee Tim]

Forgive my Florida Cracker / Florida Flatlander ignorance but what the heck is a coulee?

[montanadave]

A coulee is just a dry drainage or ravine. Guess it's probably a term used more out west where our annual precipitation is often less than 15". I've heard it used all my life.

And I've always pronounced creek "crick." :laugh:

As for the shooting range, I'm going to have a pistol range right next to my pole barn because it already has a berm on three sides. And I've got a spot picked out in one of the lower meadows which should give me a decent 400-500 yard range on the flat. But I'll probably put a few steel gongs/plates across the drainage from the pole barn to plink at if I'm too lazy to head down the hill.

[LHS]

And I've always pronounced creek "crick." :laugh:



That's how you're supposed to pronounce it. Everyone else is wrong :)

[davidjinks]

In case I didn't mention this...I hate you! :p

That is beautiful! I hope to have land like that myself someday!

Funny thing...I thought only PA people say crick instead of creek.

[feedramp]

Beautiful country there, MDave.