I need a little OB knowledge. I have a property in Stephens County that had a metal culvert in front of the access gate when I purchased the property.

I have gone to weekly trash service and the trash truck has completely collapsed the culvert over the last few years. It started with the ends being pushed in where the driver cut the turn short entering and leaving the property, and now the seam on the top is starting to cave in.

I need to fix this before it gets worse and just need to know:

Is it my responsibility or Stephens County?
If it is my responsibility do I need to notify the county or just do it?
I am assuming I need to go with a slightly smaller diameter so the dirt on top will be able to spread out the load better or maybe concrete it in?

Thanks for any and all help.

Pic of culvert before damage

I believe that's your responsibility, and it may need code inspection.

Call your county planning and zoning office...they will likely be able to point you in the right direction.

If the culvert is under a County maintained road, it would be their responsibility. You could replace it yourself with proper plans and notifications. If the culvert is under a private drive the you should be able to do it without notifying the County. I could be wrong, but the road does not appear to be public.

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I could be wrong, but the road does not appear to be public.

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I'd say the road the Google Street View guy went down is probably public.

County Web site doesn't show a road and bridge department. That usually means the commissioners handle road issues in their precincts directly. Call your commissioner and ask. In my county you have to buy the new culvert and have it delivered, then the county will install it (it ties into their road in their ROW, they want it done right).

Also be sure to find out if they require the sloped ends. The state of Texas does on new culverts and it changes how you put it in as well as the material you need.

This is off of a paved FM road.

street view

Your county should have standard details on culvert installation.

Don't just automatically go with a smaller culvert - that could impede drainage in the ditch an cause upstream issues that you would/could possibly end up being responsible for.

Your county should have a flood control district you can contact, or you need to contact your county commissioner.

You definitely need more cover though. Metal culverts are not designed to bear loads without at least a foot of proper cover, generally speaking. If the truck drivers cannot make the turn without beating the edges like that, you may want to look at extending the length of the crossing to eliminate future issues. Check on end treatments as well, sometimes they are required with new installations.

What Schmellba said....... your county could also have a minimum length.... 20 ft is a standard requirement in many places. They are most concerned with being able to get emergency vehicles, like a fire truck, into properties.

I agree with most everything above. Being that you're off a FM road you'll certainly have to get TXDoT involved.

If the culvert is under a driveway off a paved FM road you will have to get approval from
TxDOT since the culvert is in their right-Of-way. Contact your local TxDOT area office.

My parents property is located on a corner of FM and CR. The house entrance is from the CR and the county maintains the culvert for that entrance (I know they have replaced it at least twice in my 30 years). However a pasture entrance was added off the FM road and we had to install and maintain the culvert but someone from TXDOT had to approve the pipe size and I believe did a inspection/review after install.

In TxDOT right of way, may God have mercy on your soul.

TXDOT will have to be involved and draw up a plan. they have taken out several culverts in the Wayland area and just made dips to cross. we replaced the culverts at our Headquarters on FM 207 we went with the precast ends. we can do the work since we have Equipment and base material! you can see these culverts at 20525 FM 207, road to Strawn. also just put one in at the East city limits in Strawn on 108.

Personally, rather than getting TxDOT involved, I would buy a longer piece of the same size and type of culvert and install it myself over a weekend. Maybe try to give it more cover than what's there. Technically though, since it's in TxDOT ROW, you're supposed to get a permit from them and install it per their standards (which would probably require a safety end treatment).

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Personally, rather than getting TxDOT involved, I would buy a longer piece of the same size and type of culvert and install it myself over a weekend. Maybe try to give it more cover than what's there. Technically though, since it's in TxDOT ROW, you're supposed to get a permit from them and install it per their standards (which would probably require a safety end treatment).

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Or.......you could definitely get TxDOT and the county involved and spend a lot more money and time taking care of the issue. Make sure you have your curb cut permit on hand when you call them.

"What...you don't have a curb cut permit? Well lookey here Mr. taxpayer....you've been illegal for quite a while. You bought it that way? Well.....the law's the law...you need to get a curb cut permit before you change anything....and you will need to do it to the specs of the new permit you just purchased that you didn't know you needed. What did you say your name and address was?"

Oh, and be prepared for the tax appraiser to give you a call about what you're building that required you to get a curb cut permit.....they just might need to go out and take a look for themselves...and maybe take a little look see over the whole property while they are there and justify the trip.

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This is off of a paved FM road.

street view

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I would guess that culvert is inside of the county ROW so it is their responsibility to maintain the ditch so water will flow. The county ROW where I live is either 22 or 25 ft from the center of the road. Call the county road department and they will send out an engineer. If it's in their ROW you will probably have to buy the culvert but they will install it.

**FM road not county road. Have fun with DOT.

If you have your TXDOT driveway permit handy, you will have cut out the main delay in getting issues like this fixed. Go to your local office, and show them what is happening. They will help you if you aren't adversarial toward them.
In addition, have someone else draw up the plans and install the new culvert. It takes the liability off of you should something happen regarding backing up water onto someone else's property or other liability issues. Yes, it's going to cost more, but it will save you money in the long run.

Safety ends will cost a lot more than pipe and pipe usually requires stabilized sand bedding. Check with your County Road and Bridge as they will advise you of what is required. Sometimes they will give you flow line elevations and you will set and in other counties they will set your materials.

OP, something else you should know:

1) Rural TxDOT districts behave much much much much more friendly toward residents than urban ones.
2) TxDOT treats individual homeowners much better than they treat engineers, surveyors, city employees, or other professionally. They steamroll us pretty often by months of delays, TIA demands, and huge stacks of paperwork ...but I've seen them just hand individual owners a driveway permit less than 20 minutes after they walked in the door the first time.

I suspect the other posters here are speaking of their professional experience with TxDOT in a very urban district. What county are you in? I'll try and link you to the appropriate documents to fill out.

You may have to go with the same diameter traffic load RCP instead of the CMP you currently have. I bet they won't let you decrease the diameter of the pipe. It has to carry a designed water flow.

From the looks of things, he would have to put a pretty solid crown on the road with any pipe. RCP needs protective cover the same way CMP does. I would go with smaller diameter but multiple runs if raising the grade is not an option.

One of my friends in Stephens County put in a diversion ditch on a FM Right-of-way, including a mound. They let him keep a wide, shallow ditch, but made him remove the mound. I am sure that he would never have received permission prior to building it.

Just replace the damn tinhorn, pile some more gravel on it and move on. If you want to run it up the flagpole, call the regional texdot office and talk to them.

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Just replace the damn tinhorn, pile some more gravel on it and move on. If you want to run it up the flagpole, call the regional texdot office and talk to them.

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You definitely need to demo the whole thing out and just build a bridge.

I'k make the trash company pay for it. With that being said, the county will install the first one, you just have to pay for the material. After that I aint sure. I'd call the county and explain. If you can get them to do the labor and just pay for the material thats what I would do.

It looks like the ditch has the potential to be a fragile wetlands ecosystem.

Be sure you have an EIS done before moving any dirt.