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Soft Verge
Rekusu
Posts: 125
What ho one and all,
I live in a private road and there is a small roundabout in front of my house. As such, a group of houses have ownership but I am the only one who actually does any work, mainly mowing the grass, leaf clearing, etc.
The immediate verge is very, very soft and frequently, large trucks that think they can get around, don't and squidge into the verge, causing damage that they don't even know they caused.
What is the best way to increase the firmness of this verge without going as far as paying for ground stabilization mesh?
Thanks and toodle pip
Rex
0
Posts
Can you put a large timber or metal post on the verge to stop vehicles driving on there?
I think that I'd try using timber posts, or large stones painted white as often seen in simulated circumstances. Alternatively perhaps plant it up with shrubs?
thinking logically - is it possible that the road needs to be widened and the verge narrowed in order to accommodate modern vehicles?
Last edited: 15 November 2016 08:49:00
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks for the suggestions.
The road committee have considered posts, but some of the large trucks are so large that if/when they hit a post, they will only knock it to the side, dislodge a large section of soil (or lever up the concrete road) and not even know they have hit anything.
We have considered large stones (expensive) and currently have a lot of large logs that dissuade cars from cutting the corner, but again, when a truck hits the logs, the driver does not even know.
The turning circle is large enough for most trucks, but very big ones do give it a try. And then then cut the internal corners because the roundabout is not a constant diameter. If the hard internal edges are enlarged, then that will only encourage large trucks to turn even tighter and they will still run over the verge.
Hence, i would like to inexpensively, reinforce the verge so that if/when a truck does run over it, the ground is more solid grass rather than incredibly squidgey grass.
I don't think there's an inexpensive way to do it. Lorries are very heavy and their wheels cut up most natural surfaces.
Perhaps an alternative would be to dig out a strip of the verge and fill it with gravel and put a warning up that their wheels will sink if they go onto it. You sometimes see that on the sides of roads. But it would be a pretty major change and you'd probably need a JCB to do it.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Pansy!
I agree with the others, unfortunately there isn't a cheap fix. Many expensive fixes but unfortunately non that will deter a determined lorry driver from giving it ago. These vehicles are of course the ultimate company car and no driver is going to worry about running over a few ornamental stones.
All I can suggest is that you get a suitably heavy duty grid mesh that lay that into the grass verge. It might offer some protection from the ground being churned up by spreading the load of the vehicle.
For example this company: http://www.matsgrids.co.uk/40-truckpave-grass-paving-grids
Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. Will see if the road association will fork out for some paving grids (matgrids)
As for soft verges, having done a Google translate, that gave me a giggle!