Walk through the environmentally- and cost-sensitive maintenance practices for dirt and gravel roads in our online course curated by Dr. Rossow. If implemented correctly, these maintenance practices not only minimize erosion and sediment, maintain subsurface hydrologic connectivity, restore drainage density to more natural conditions, and eliminate diversion potential; but they also reduce long-term maintenance costs and lengthen maintenance cycles. The course describes a simple protocol to help road managers and maintenance practitioners assess road conditions, identify problems, determine causes, and select the appropriate environmentally-sensitive practices that fit site conditions. The various conditions are illustrated through extensive use of carefully chosen photographs. This online engineering course is based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture document 7700-Transportation Management 1177 1802--SDTCD, “Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance Practices for Dirt and Gravel Roads,” written by personnel from the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Dirt and Gravel Roads, April, 2012.

Learning Objectives

• Keys to diagnosing road problems
• Subsurface water
• Road surface drainage
• Roadside ditches
• Ditch outlets
• Road stream crossings
• Surface aggregate
• Road assessment and monitoring