Drainage for 'dirt road'

[KateMoss]

Our street is an unadopted road which is not finished with tarmac or anything similar, hence 'dirt road' in title. It is about 40m long, 5m wide and very badly worn with large potholes and craters. I am hoping to get the neighbours to club together to fix it in some way. Our houses only front on to the road on one side, along the other side is the side boundary of a house/garden and a garage entrance. My plan is to get someone to put a gradient on the road sloping away from our house fronts towards the other side and install some kind of drainage on that side. I don't think the neighbour on that side will object but that is a bridge yet to be crossed! I am veering away from having a crown on the road as the houses on the residential side are below road level and the neighbours are concerned about flooding which already happens to some extent in heavy rain. Questions:
1. Would some kind of French drain with no outfall other than ground drainage work for this size project assuming the ground drains OK?
2. If so how long would it last before getting silted up?
3. Would plastic 'soakaway crates' be significantly better?

 

[RedHerring2]

You'd really need to do some exploratory percolation tests on the ground conditions before going any further.

This is not necessarily percolation tests at ground level, but tests at the depth that any soakaway would be installed.
200m² is a reasonably sized area and a soakaway would need to be designed with this (and the percolation ability of the soil) in mind.

You'd also need to consider any additional incidental drainage, eg form driveways, etc.

 

[merlin50]

i have lived on an unadopted road and the more you spend on it the worse it gets

 

[KateMoss]

You'd really need to do some exploratory percolation tests on the ground conditions before going any further.

This is not necessarily percolation tests at ground level, but tests at the depth that any soakaway would be installed.
200m² is a reasonably sized area and a soakaway would need to be designed with this (and the percolation ability of the soil) in mind.

You'd also need to consider any additional incidental drainage, eg form driveways, etc.

- Sound advice RedHerring2 - I knew someone was listening in those soil mechanics lectures!!

 

[RedHerring2]

Sound advice RedHerring2 - I knew someone was listening in those soil mechanics lectures!!

Wow, not me, I'm just a DIYer.