waterbars.....?

[MikeP]

With all the recent rain, one of the older trail sections at my local spot got hit hard with alot of erosion (exposed roots and a gully down the middle of one section). It's an older trail that wasn't designed real well and goes directing down the fall line so water run off is usually a problem. We already put in a proper divert section that winds accros the fall line and looks solid (no issues after all the rain). I was thinking the only way to fix the old section is to put in a few water bars to get the run off to go off trail. I did some research online about how they should be put in and was looking at trying to use something more bike friendly that pressure treated wood. Over at GCC there's a few water bars on a steeper section that seem to be a flexible black strip, it must work really well because there's no erosion there at all and you hardly notice it when you roll over it. Any thoughts on what material I could use that would be bike friendly?

 

[Wobbegong]

Fall line is the root of the problem. Its real hard to manage water on a fall line. Is a re-route/closure of the fall line possible?

Waterbars arent the answer in my opinion. Properly installed nicks are best.

 

[MikeP]

Fall line is the root of the problem. Its real hard to manage water on a fall line. Is a re-route/closure of the fall line possible?

Waterbars arent the answer in my opinion. Properly installed nicks are best.

nicks?

 

[Wobbegong]

nicks?

Take a look here:
http://old.imba.com/resources/trail_building/gradedips_2.html

Its not easy to pull off on a fall line.

They call it a RGD. Rolling grade dip. Like taking a small chunk, or nick, out of the trail to divert water.

 

[Frank]

As Jason stated, fall line is the problem. Water bars were meant to be installed on trails that are perpendicular to the fall line when they were first used. Now we all (well, most of us) use Nicks and RGD to achieve the same result and the best part is that people don't widen the trail trying to avoid them. A properly designed re-route is in order.

 

[MikeP]

Take a look here:
http://old.imba.com/resources/trail_building/gradedips_2.html

Its not easy to pull off on a fall line.

They call it a RGD. Rolling grade dip. Like taking a small chunk, or nick, out of the trail to divert water.

thanks for the link, not sure that would work it's a fairly steep, short section

 

[MikeP]

As Jason stated, fall line is the problem. Water bars were meant to be installed on trails that are perpendicular to the fall line when they were first used. Now we all (well, most of us) use Nicks and RGD to achieve the same result and the best part is that people don't widen the trail trying to avoid them. A properly designed re-route is in order.

yep put in a nice reroute but was hoping to rehab that section guess it might not be possible

 

[Wobbegong]

yep put in a nice reroute but was hoping to rehab that section guess it might not be possible

Chop up the trail and let the seeds take hold. Close it up!!

 

[Frank]

Chop up the trail and let the seeds take hold. Close it up!!

Very sound advice

 

[jdog]

Water bars are never the answer.

Think of them as a waterfall. When a waterfall is flowing heavily, a pit is dug from the flowing water.

Anything that speeds up the flow of water is not a good thing.