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My wife and I are developing a 12 acre site in Maryland for our home and we face a couple of interesting problems with the site. The house-site, the lot’s highest elevation, is on a rising knoll about 12 feet in elevation from the lowest and wettest area of the property. The only access to the house-site is across a permanently soft and wet lowland area. This is not a wetlands area as in the summer it is dry enough to walk on, but there is groundwater just below the surface.
I want to build a slightly elevated roadway on concrete piers across this area with just enough clearance to allow storm water to flow unobstructed under it. The length of this roadway would be about 100 feet. The crossing will need to be able to carry heavy construction vehicles. Do any of you have experience with this sort of structure or know where I might find plans or codes or other information? On a similar note, I am looking for advice as to the best method for constructing a gravel road over soft ground. This is the road that will lead to and away from the crossing structure.
As for the other interesting problems, those might be just as much fun and I will address those in later postings!
Thanks for any and all your help and ideas!
Ed Kirkpatrick
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ed .. watch out.. building the road is relatively easy... getting permits to build the road can be a forever ordeal.. depending on your Dept. of Enviornmental Mgmnt.
what you and i define as "not wetlands" has nothing to do with wetlands as defined by your state laws..
better make sure you have the right to build the road where you want it before you figure out how to build it..
*I agree with Mike. Environmental regulation are tough to figure out. I would start by calling the state department of forestry or whoever they reccomend. With 12 acres you will be suprised at how much free assistance the state may give you. I have 6 1/2 acres in KY and when I ask for forest management information I got a ton of help. The state sent a representative to evaluate the condition and health of my little patch of woods. They also sent an agronomist to give advice on soil condition, and a wildlife expert to make reccomendation on habitat consevation. My lot was not big enough to qualify for all this service, but my FIL and another neighbor let me include thier lots in the survey. I recieved a report and recommendation for management that is great. The state reps were thrilled that we made the effort to ask for advice before we started building. They offered to come back durring the building and after to refine the plan to the future conditions. They also offered to develope a plan for the construction of a dam and pond after the house is built. All in all, I was impressed with thier proffesionalism and willingness to help us achieve our building goal with the least amount of envromental damage.