Levelling of paths?

[ColinG]

Hi, new member with a newbie type question. I'm looking at buying a bit of woodland, but the thing that's putting me off most are the paths. The wood has been used for motorbike racing, and pretty much all the paths and rides (and quite a few other areas) are heavily rutted, and compacted to the point of there still being standing water in them even after a long spell of dry weather. This is five years after it was last used.

 

How easy is this to deal with? I don't expect perfect smoothess, but I need people (especially visitors) to get around without constantly running ankle-breaking risks. What are the right questions to ask of contractors? What equipment would be involved, and any idea what sort of costs I'd have to factor in (something per metre I presume?)

 

Thanks for any advice.

[gooseflight]

20 tonne digger and a landscaping rake or a mahoosive tractor with rigid tine cultivator. You will probably need to disc it down after.

[matelot]

The amount of material a JCB can move in a day is unreal...

 

I don't see rutted paths as a huge problem to overcome. Simple get a JCB (or similar) to break up the ruts and shape the path so that water flows off.

 

Plenty guys here want rid of wood chip as well. I reckon paths of woodchip would be OK for pedestrians.

[david wood]

yeah having seen my garden track torn to peices cause of a slight drainage issue and tractor and wood trailer - to point i thought ohhh god! a good digger driver can fix scary amounts in a day so worth asking around to find one.

[kav]

If its not too horrendous we have regraded paths with rotovator/grader(with teeth) and roller behind alpine or as others said get digger in

Edited June 13, 2016 by kav
Added more info

[njtimber]

Hi, new member with a newbie type question. I'm looking at buying a bit of woodland, but the thing that's putting me off most are the paths. The wood has been used for motorbike racing, and pretty much all the paths and rides (and quite a few other areas) are heavily rutted, and compacted to the point of there still being standing water in them even after a long spell of dry weather. This is five years after it was last used.

 

How easy is this to deal with? I don't expect perfect smoothess, but I need people (especially visitors) to get around without constantly running ankle-breaking risks. What are the right questions to ask of contractors? What equipment would be involved, and any idea what sort of costs I'd have to factor in (something per metre I presume?)

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

We reinstate forest rides after forwarding timber with a 6 or 8 ton steel tracked 360 excavator ,break up the ruts with a toothed bucket,re grade with the teeth and then track backwards and forwards to bed it back down. As someone else mentioned a good driver will cover a lot of ground per day.

[gdh]

We have bike races and the ruts are hard to level but as said hiring a 360 with a blade on the front and a good driver will soon get them cleared. The worst thing about bikes is that they don't leave anything either side of the ruts so you do have to dig a bit.

 

For us it was about £700 to do 3-4 miles of track.

[aspenarb]

Our old Drott is a good tool for straightening out tracks, five rippers bars go on the backframe and level with the four in one on the front.

 

Bob

 

[ColinG]

Great advice all round. A bit less concerned, and a bit less ignorant now.

Thanks all:001_smile:

[htb]

Our old Drott is a good tool for straightening out tracks, five rippers bars go on the backframe and level with the four in one on the front.

 

Bob

 

 

Good old tool, very usefull you dont see them about as much now