Forest Road Assessment

Forest Road Assessment Using, recording and maintaining the asset David Killer - Forestry Civil Engineering - 23 October 2007

what are forest roads for? Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Forest Road Assessment David Killer

the main users of many forest roads Forest Road Assessment David Killer

road condition survey • to define the usage of each segment of road in terms of low, medium or high for the following categories: timber traffic, light vehicles, cyclists, horses, walkers and other • to decide on the optimum surfacing solution for each usage combination • to record the actual condition against the optimum • to estimate the cost of moving to the optimum surfacing solution Forest Road Assessment David Killer

road condition survey (cont’d) • to assess the strength of roads for harvesting purposes (GPR and FWD) • to record the condition of other features which include: the sensitivity of the area to water (this determines the attention paid to side ditches and culverts), the condition of side drains, surface potholes, road shape and vegetation • data transferred to an Arc9 geodatabase Forest Road Assessment David Killer

inputting usage data Forest Road Assessment David Killer

surface characteristics Forest Road Assessment David Killer

survey vehicle Forest Road Assessment David Killer

data capture and processing Forest Road Assessment David Killer

results of road assessment • 1. Record of road usage and actual condition • 2. Recommendations for achieving optimum condition for actual usage • 3. Access to funds for recreation/health • 4. Improved knowledge of road strength and improved targeting of maintenance resource • 5. GIS video record of all forest infrastructure • 6. Better predictions of serviceability of forest and minor public roads Forest Road Assessment David Killer

bottom line • FC has 4,000km of Class A roads • Assume these are re-surfaced every 10 years • using 1T/m = 400,000T of stone pa • assume an average of £5/T = £2M • aim for 10% saving from targeted maintenance • allowing for cost of survey the net saving = £100k pa • 40k T of stone = saving of 4k T of CO2 Forest Road Assessment David Killer

RUTT Roads Under Timber Traffic RUTT Project Roads under Timber Transport A joint study by Forestry Civil Engineering & the University of Nottingham

RUTT Project - Ringour Trials Laboratory Results Trial Date Vehicle Mat. Condition Moisture Content Remarks Trial 1 26/Jun FCE ML (Multi-Lift) Type 1 Dry N/A Trial 2 27/Jun FCE ML Type 1 Soaked Material at Scotland Lab Trial 3 24/Jul John Miller (J.M.) Aritc Type 1 Soaked 3.90% Wheel Track - 0 to 7cm depth 5.70% Rut bottom - Right hand wheel track Trial 4 08/Aug J.M. Lorry&Drag + FCE ML Type 1 Soaked Material at Scotland Lab Trial 5 18/Aug John Scott LGP Type 1 Soaked 5.17% Trial 6 06/Sep J.M. Artic + FCE ML Risk Soaked 6.20% Trial 7 18/Sep J. Jones TPCS Risk Soaked ? Test due on 10th October 19/Sep J. Jones TPCS Risk Soaked 5.00% Right hand side wheel path 19/Sep J. Jones TPCS Risk Soaked 6.10% Left hand side wheel path Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Poor Material Grading Analysis Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Some Points about the Trials • Each trial involves running vehicles over the section 100 times, measuring at set intervals. • The section was watered every 10 passes. • The first two trials were designed to compare rutting in dry and wet conditions. • The fourth trial involved two vehicles running in different tracks to allow comparison under the same conditions. An important development. Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Some More Points about the Trials • The seventh trial employed a vehicle fitted with the Tireboss system running at three increasing tyre pressure configurations on the drive and trailer axles. The steering axle tyre pressure could not be altered from normal. • An eighth trial was conducted running the Multi-Lift with all tyres at 70 psi in one track and at 110psi in a second track. Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Observations so far • The main factors that influence rutting are moisture content and tyre pressure/load. • It is thought that rutting is proportional to the highest tyre pressure / axle load combination (this includes the steering axle). Forest Road Assessment David Killer

The Final Message • It was found that tyre pressures varied enormously, some unnecessarily high at 125 psi. • If road damage equates to high tyre pressures • Get a tyre pressure gauge and stop these guys wrecking your roads and their tyres Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Tyre Pressure Gauge Forest Road Assessment David Killer

Forest Road Assessment