Awkward Gap in Sidewalk - Need Filler Material 3

[JoelTXCive]

I have inherited a project from another engineer.

We need to provide a filler material between a new sidewalk and an old bridge rail.

We are worried that if we just fill it with sand or select fill, then weeds will grow.

My two best ideas are stabilized sand; or maybe even asphalt?

Does anyone have any suggestions? (see below)

Thank you in advance!

 

[KaBone]

concrete would look like someone forgot to make the sidewalk wider. asphalt would be visually interesting, not quite as expensive but how do you compact it?. sand/gravel is a maintenance commitment. landscaping an option but would look weird. i'd go with brick pavers (porous if possible). would look really nice, but also expensive.

 

[fel3]

I second the brick pavers. You could even put pavers on both sides of the sidewalk to frame the concrete and make it look intentional. Or a long line of snakes, perhaps.

============
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill

 

[hokie66]

Tough on the paver guys to fit pavers in that variable space. Crushed stone would look OK. Use a weed mat under it.

 

[phamENG]

How about that fake turf that's so popular in 'coastal contemporary' driveways?

 

[IRstuff]

Well, WTF, why did "they," whoever "they" are, require the sidewalk have a gap there? What was the intent? Surely, the previous engineer left some sort of design documentation that the city approved of, didn't they?

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[MotorCity]

A crushed stone with a lot of fines that can be easily compacted and very dense, we'd call it a 21A or 21AA. Maybe a polymeric sand? Cobbles or boulders? Not pavers.....the guys laying the pavers would hate you for making them layer bricks in such a narrow, curving path where there would be a ton of cutting.

 

[phamENG]

Stamped concrete? Might need a custom stamp for the radius, but you could get the paver look without all the cutting.

 

[phamENG]

Or an exposed aggregate finish? Just something to separate the two from one another visually so you don't get the after thought effect.

 

[dik]

Can you use pea gravel?

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

 

[SwinnyGG]

Herbicide -> landscaping fabric -> pea gravel or crusher fines would be my vote.

Or you could just fill it with flow fill, which would be fast and look pretty much exactly like crusher fines would.

 

[dik]

ya... forgot about weeds...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

 

[JoelTXCive]

I checked the prior engineer's planset. There does not seem to be clear guidance to the contractor on where to construct the sidewalk. They reference setting the sidewalk on the 'back of curb'.....but in this section the roadway does not exist yet, so there is no curb to reference. There are also no prescribed control points; or prescribed offset distances from the roadway alignment.

This is a private community; so there is no city code enforcement or approval.

Those issues are above my pay grade though. I just need to find the best filler material.

So far, I think Motorcity is winning the contest with the crushed stone containing lots of fines.

I'm hesitant to put any concrete in there because I think it will crack. Also, I think I would need a bond breaker of some sort on the bridge rail side; which would make the opening even smaller.

 

[dhengr]

JoelTXCive:
I believe there is a pervious paving mix which consists of pea gravel (fairly small size variation range) with an asphaltic binder in the mix, which when compacted and cured, turns into a hard, well draining, perious, pavement. Take some 8" or 10" high strips of .125" steel coil, 8' long, and weld some “U” shaped handles on the top edge, several sets of these, so you can step along; these get sprayed with some bond beaker and placed against the sidewalk edge and the railing wall; partly as a bond breaker and partly to guide the placement of the pea gravel mix. Compact the mix at first with a 2x4 or 4x4 (on end) manually, and when the mix is about at the sidewalk level, pull up/out the steel plate guides. Finally, compact the mix with a jumping jack compactor with a .5"x4" stl. pl. welded on one edge of its base pl. When you touch the sidewalk with the whole compactor base pl. you are done. This will take a little experimenting to determine initial pea gravel fill height, and initial hand compacting height and density, and initial base material compaction. This gives a .5" deep drain btwn. the sidewalk and the railing wall, but it should drain. Loose stone/pea gravel does not sound like a good idea. You will constantly be having to sweep that off the sidewalk and back into the little ditch.

 

[MotorCity]

What dhengr describes sounds like what we would refer to as a cold patch asphalt. They sell bags of it at Home Depot. Basically its a semi plastic cold mix of pea gravel and asphalt binder that hardens after being exposed to air after a while. I like it for this application.

As a side note, the unfortunate part is that they also like to use it to patch potholes in the spring (lookin' at you MDOT). Anyone who has travelled Michigan roads knows what I am talking about. Its complete crap for filling road potholes. You have some guy standing on the back of a dumptruck heaving shovel fulls of this stuff into potholes from about 5' in the air. Of the roughly 50% of it that actually makes it into the pothole, drivers immediately run over it and kick it up all over the side of cars within 20'. Rant over.

 

[dhengr]

JoelTXCive:
The pea gravel/asphaltic binder product, there may well be other aggregates and binders too, that I’m referring to, is specifically for pervious pavements. It is not the common cold patch asphalt referred to by MotorCity, which is not intended to be pervious. I can’t put any brand names on the pervious paving systems I’m thinking of, but I have seen and read about them. Landscape Archs., Civil E’s., various paving contractors and other parties worried about retaining rain water, on the finished site, (limiting runoff of rain water to storm sewers) should know about these products and systems. They allow infiltration rather than runoff from hard surfaces. I believe there are also paving blocks, laid kinda like brick paving on a sand bed, which produce a pervious paving surface. But, you could end up with weed growth at the block joints.

 

[BridgeSmith]

I would suggest avoiding anything rigid, since the sidewalk and bridge rail may (and probably will) move differently, so the gap width may change a little with temperature changes. I like SwinnyGG's proposal.

Rod Smith, P.E., The artist formerly known as HotRod10

 

[Tmoose]

I have to congratulate the OP for providing sufficient useful initial information AND pictures that really enhance (my) understanding of his question.
Not an acronym in sight. ahhhh.