Rural roadside ditches carry water away from roads and protect our infrastructure, but they also carry runoff to nearby lakes and streams. Problems in ditches can lead to impacts to water quality downstream.
By following the practical advice in this guide, people working on ditches can solve ongoing and irritating maintenance issues while protecting lakes and streams.
This 2014 guide does not meet Section 508 accessibility standards. Please contact one of the program staff members listed below for an alternative format or more information about the guide.
What is a ditch?
The main purpose of a roadside ditch is to protect the integrity of a road. Roads are designed so that rain and snowmelt drain off the road and to a ditch. Once the water reaches the ditch, it should flow along the ditch to its lowest elevation and eventually away from the roadway, which helps protect the stability of the road subgrade.
The Field Guide for Maintaining Rural Roadside Ditches was designed to provide guidelines for maintaining upland roadside ditches in rural northeastern Minnesota in a way that reduces sediment and pollutant loads to waterways. Using the information will also help you prevent erosion and maintain good water conveyance. This guide offers practical advice and illustrations to hands-on maintenance workers, ditch maintenance contractors and local (e.g., township) road supervisors who maintain ditches. These pages contain technical guidance for routine work in the field when there is limited access to survey equipment and other sophisticated tools. The guide will also help you determine when maintenance is beyond routine and additional help and advice should be sought.
Why Minnesota Sea Grant?
Minnesota Sea Grant's Field Guide for Maintaining Rural Roadside Ditches supports Sea Grant's mission to enhance the practical use and conservation of coastal, marine and Great Lakes resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment.
What have we done lately?
The Field Guide to Maintaining Rural Roadside Ditches was written in 2014 and continues to be in use in 2022.
Participants & audience
The Field Guide to Maintaining Rural Roadside Ditches is dedicated to the professionals, contractors, local government employees, and state road crews who perform routine ditch maintenance throughout northeastern Minnesota.
The Field Guide for Maintaining Rural Roadside Ditches was made possible by a grant funded under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (project #: GL00E00557-0) to the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute (contribution number 573) and Minnesota Sea Grant (publication number SH 14).
- University of Minnesota, Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institute,
- Fortin Consulting,
Matofali ya kando ya barabara huondoa maji kwenye barabara na kulinda miundombinu yetu, lakini pia huingiza maji kwenye maziwa na vijito vilivyo karibu. Matatizo katika mitaro yanaweza kusababisha athari kwa ubora wa maji chini ya mto. Kwa kufuata ushauri wa vitendo katika mwongozo huu, watu wanaofanya kazi kwenye mitaro wanaweza kutatua masuala ya matengenezo ya mara kwa mara na ya kukasirisha wakati wa kulinda maziwa na vijito. Mwongozo huu wa 2014 haukidhi viwango vya upatikanaji wa Sehemu ya 508. Tafadhali wasiliana na mmoja wa wafanyakazi wa programu waliotajwa hapa chini kwa muundo mbadala au habari zaidi kuhusu mwongozo. Bonde ni nini? Kusudi kuu la mtaro wa kando ya barabara ni kulinda uadilifu wa barabara. Barabara zimebuniwa ili mvua na theluji inayeyuka itoke barabarani na kuingia katika mtaro. Mara maji yanapofika kwenye mtaro, yanapaswa kuenea kwenye mtaro hadi kwenye kiwango cha chini zaidi na hatimaye mbali na barabara, ambayo husaidia kulinda utulivu wa barabara. Mwongozo wa Usimamizi wa Matofali ya Barabara ya Vijijini (FILD GUIDE FOR MAINTAINING RURAL ROADSIDE DICHS) ni mwongozo wa usimamizi wa mito ya barabara ya kijijini ya kaskazini mashariki mwa Minnesota kwa njia ambayo hupunguza mizigo ya sediment na uchafuzi kwa njia za maji. Kutumia habari hiyo kutakusaidia pia kuzuia mmomonyoko wa maji na kudumisha usafirishaji mzuri wa maji. Mwongozo huu hutoa ushauri wa vitendo na vielelezo kwa wafanyakazi wa matengenezo ya mikono, wakandarasi wa matengenezo ya mtaro na wasimamizi wa barabara za mitaa (kwa mfano, township) ambao wanadumisha mitaro. Kurasa hizi zina mwongozo wa kiufundi kwa ajili ya kazi ya kawaida katika shamba wakati kuna upatikanaji mdogo wa vifaa vya uchunguzi na zana nyingine za kisasa. Mwongozo pia utakusaidia kuamua wakati matengenezo ni nje ya kawaida na msaada wa ziada na ushauri inapaswa kutafutwa. Kwa nini Minnesota Sea Grant? Mwongozo wa Shamba wa Minnesota wa Msaada wa Bahari kwa Uhifadhi wa Mito ya Barabara ya Vijijini inasaidia utume wa Msaada wa Bahari wa kuboresha matumizi ya vitendo na uhifadhi wa rasilimali za pwani, baharini na Maziwa Makuu ili kuunda uchumi endelevu na mazingira. Tumekuwa tukifanya nini hivi karibuni? Mwongozo wa Usimamizi wa Matofali ya Barabara ya Vijijini uliandikwa mnamo 2014 na unaendelea kutumika mnamo 2022. Mwongozo wa Usimamizi wa Mifereji ya Barabara ya Vijijini ni kwa ajili ya wataalamu, wakandarasi, wafanyakazi wa serikali za mitaa, na wafanyakazi wa barabara za serikali ambao hufanya matengenezo ya kawaida ya mitaro katika kaskazini mashariki mwa Minnesota. "Mwongozo wa Usimamizi wa Barabara ya Vijijini ulifanywa kwa msaada wa fedha chini ya Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, iliyodhibitiwa na Ofisi ya Programu ya Kitaifa ya Maziwa Makubwa ya Shirika la Ulinzi wa Mazingira la Marekani na Shirika la Udhibiti wa Uchafuzi wa Minnesota (Jarida la # GL00557-0) kwa Taasisi ya Utafiti wa Rasilimali Asili ya Chuo Kikuu cha Minnesota Duluth (msaada namba 573) na Minnesota Sea Grant (chapisho namba 14)." Chuo Kikuu cha Minnesota, Duluth, Taasisi ya Utafiti wa Rasilimali Asili, Fortin Consulting,