Erosion on farm lanes and access roads can be a major problem where constant traffic prohibits vegetation from taking hold.

Compounded with long slope lengths, significant gullies can form making equipment access difficult at best.

Ideally, roadways should be graded and stabilized with geotextile fabric, a base layer of larger limestone rock and topped off with a 2A modified.

While this method is effective, it’s also extremely expensive, has the potential to still erode from heavier storms and is less than ideal on rented farms.

While the lack of cover causes the erosion on roadways it’s really the long uncontrolled slope lengths that accelerate it. Water bars have always been the norm for controlling water on roadways and reducing slope lengths; however they are less than ideal for equipment and costly to install.

A cheaper alternative is conveyor belt; installed perpendicular to the roadway, it directs water off the road and can be driven over without losing its shape or slowing down to cross.

Installation is simple, dig a small trench across the roadway burying the belting vertically and leaving about six to eight inches exposed.

In rocky ground or loose, sandier soil, the belting can be cut down and sandwiched between a pair of two-by-six pressure treated boards, bolted together, to provide a better footing to hold the water bar in place.

The belting should be angled a few degrees downhill in the direction you’d like to direct the water.

The steepness of the roadway will dictate the proximity of the water bars but typically slopes 0 to 6 percent should have bars installed every 100 feet; slopes 10-20 percent should have bars installed no more than 50 feet apart.

On steeper sections, the water bars should direct water off the road alternately so runoff isn’t directed to one side creating a new erosion problem.

In all cases, the areas adjacent to the roadway should be grassed or stoned. Used belting can be relatively inexpensive and the price is dependent on the belt thickness and condition.

There are several companies that sell used belting in the Pittsburgh area as well as Craigslist and even calling some of the local mining operations; more often than not they throw away belts that have become torn or too worn to resell.

Penn State’s Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies has a nice technical bulletin www.dirtandgravel.psu.edu/resources/documents/Belt_Diversion_2009_web.pdf, which lists installation instructions, materials list and several pictures illustrating the project.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.