Controlling a really muddy construction site 1

[khu]

Finishing up plans for a new school and looking for some guidance on how to control a muddy job site. Currently, there is another school being constructed in the same city, and it's a mud pit. I've seen straw used on sites before, but is there any concern with the removal of straw before final grading and paving?

In my mind, aggregate over straw over geotextile would be great, but that's obviously getting expensive. If the straw is easy enough to scrape away, I imagine periodic reapplication would be sufficient. Curious how others specify this.

 

[TerryScan]

I would suggest the best approach would be to control stormwater runoff in an effort to NOT have a muddy job site.

This may involve construction phase grading along with temporary diversion swales or berms to direct runoff to sediment traps or stormwater management facilities. Prompt stabilization of disturbed areas with stone bases in paved and building areas as well as vegetation in other areas should help as well.

 

[oldestguy]

Consider treatment with quick lime. It takes up the water and also makes the soil less like a clay and more like a sand. work it in with a roto tiller if really necessary, but just applying it to the mud the traffic does the mixing.

http://www.lime.org

› Construction › Uses of Lime › Lime Basics

Soil Stabilzation - The National Lime Association

 

[darthsoilsguy2]

soil subgrades for roads should be proofrolled with a fully loaded dump truck prior to placement of the stone bases. Clays and Silts that get wet and wheel loads turn to junk from lots of construction traffic on saturated surfaces. The hay straw is good to keep the tires a little clean and to soak up some of the water and cut down on erosion, but any mud and soils that have been deformed when the soils were wet will ultimately or should need to be removed if you're in structural areas like pavement, hardscaping, or bldg pads. Beware... there are a lot of contractual fights about mud and soft subgrades.

 

[Ron]

Don't use straw. It won't get removed and is organic. It will rot and eventually settle.

Use surface and subsurface water control through ditching and wellpoints if necessary. Supplement unstable soils with gravel.

 

[oliviaturner]

One of the first things you can do to make less severe the mud problem is to lay down some geogrids. Geogrids are grid like structures that can be laid down over the soil. They are generally made from ploymer materials and used to reinforce the soil, like when a retaining wall is being built. It also help having a cleaning station.

 

[oldestguy]

I once saw the use of old bricks something like coarse aggregate. It helped some, but those bricks got stuck between the tires of the duals. Later going down the road they were thrown out-- a dangerous thing.

 

[Twinkie]

Have a CPESC design an E&S Plan for you